Swordsman of the Hidden Mist
by King of Everything
Summary: Naruto is run out of Konoha at the age of 5 and meets up with Zabuza Momochi. Can he still fullfil his dreams? Can Orochimaru, Pein, and Madara be stopped? Will Sasuke still betray Konoha? Eventual NarutoxSakura. Minor KibaxHinata, ShikamaruxIno.
1. Run Naruto

Full Summary: Naruto is run out of Kanoha at the age of 5 and meets up with the terrible Demon of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi. For seven years he is trained by Zabuza untill, in the land of waves, he meets up with the people who should have been his teammates and friends. Can he still become Hokage? Can he still defeat Orochimaru, Pein, and Madara? Can he still fall in love with Sakura?

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Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did I wouldn't be writing here would I?

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**Chapter 1: Run Naruto

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Run…run…run…

It was midnight and the village of Konoha was in an uproar. Dozens of people ran through the streets, each of them carrying a torch, or a knife, or some other lethal looking item. They were searching for someone. They were searching for Naruto.

Said Naruto was currently hiding behind a large building, nursing a nasty burn on his left shoulder. He knew that he healed better then normal people, though he didn't know why, and so he wasn't that worried about it becoming something worse then it was.

I t still hurt like hell though.

He looked up and sighed as he saw two more people run past, each carrying an iron pitchfork. Why did they hate him so much? What had he ever done to them? Sure he was a prankster, but so were a lot of kids his age. Surely he didn't deserve this?

"Look!" yelled a voice from the street, "I've found him! The demon is here!"

Naruto cursed and dashed out of the alley, nearly two dozen angry villagers hot on his tail. Why weren't the ANBU coming? Why wasn't the Hokage coming? Why wasn't anyone trying to help him?

Naruto recognized the street that he was on and took a right turn toward his apartment, hoping that he could hide in there until his attackers calmed down. The sight that awaited him was not at all a pretty one. His building was on fire! Black fumes rised up around it. Two ninja stood on the rooftops of nearby buildings, blowing more fire onto his home. Naruto was horrified but he didn't have time to cry, not while the village mob continued to chase him. Naruto ran again.

Naruto's five year old mind was working overtime as he tried, desperately to find a way out of this. Off in the distance he spied the gates of Konoha and sadly nodded to himself. He hated to even consider it but he knew that he had no choice at this point…he had to leave the village hidden in the leaves. He would die if he didn't.

He moved as fast as his young legs could carry him, his few months at the ninja academy being the only thing that allowed him to stay out of the grasps of the longer legged villagers. He saw the gates slowly closing. He wasn't sure if he was going to make it. The ANBU guard on duty was closing the wooden doors, though he did so so slowly that Naruto suspected that he really didn't care if he escaped or not. Either way they would be rid of him. A moment before the doors closed Naruto slipped through them, a tear rolling down his face.

Shouts of 'Good riddance!' and 'Never come back demon!' reverberated from behind the closed doors.

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Sarutobi dashed towards the gates in panic. Only a moment ago he had been in his office, doing all sorts of boring, tedious paperwork, when the academy instructor Umino Iruka had come to him, telling him that Naruto's house was being burned down by the villagers and that Naruto himself was no where to be found. Apparently Iruka had tried to stop them but had been unable to do anything.

The Third Hokage arrived at the gates to find an enormous mob of what had to be every able bodied man and woman that wasn't a ninja in the entire village. Of course no ninja would dare take part in it lest they incur the Hokage's wrath, but that didn't mean that they had to put their whole effort into helping the boy.

"WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE DOING!?" he asked with terrible fury evident in his voice.

The villagers turned and looked up at their Hokage in fear. No one answered his question.

"YOU FOOLISH PEOPLE!" He continued, "HOW DARE YOU DO SUCH HORRID THINGS TO A CHILD! YOU SHOULD ALL BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!" Without waiting for an answer Sarutobi jumped clear over the gates and ran into the woods to try and find Naruto.

Meanwhile, a young girl with pink hair watched from her window and wondered.

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A young boy named Haku paced around the area outside his camp. He had been traveling for a while now with his new master Zabuza, the famed swordsman of the hidden mist. Over the past few months he had seen things and learned things that he had never even dreamed of back in the hidden mist village. Zabuza said that with time he would become a perfect weapon. Haku wanted nothing more then to aid the man who had given him his life back. 

A low sound interrupted Haku's musings. He strained his ears to try and hear better. The sound was coming from a point not to far away from where he was, in the opposite direction of the camp. He walked toward the sound and was surprised when he recognized it as sobbing. It didn't take long for him to find the source, a boy even slightly younger then himself with blonde hair, blue eyes, and odd looking whisker marks on his cheeks, crying his heart out. The boy hadn't seen him yet. Not sure what to do, he ran back to alert Zabuza.

"Zabuza-sama!" he exclaimed as he reached the campsite. The Demon of the Hidden Mist looked up, "There is a boy in the forest and he seems to be very upset. What should we do?"

Zabuza thought for a moment. A boy? Upset? Why would he care about that? Even if he did care he wasn't sure what Haku wanted him to do about it. He wasn't exactly known for his ability to comfort others. On the other hand maybe he should go check it out. If not for the prospect of gaining another follower, then at least it would improve Haku's trust in him. He supposed that there would be no harm in going to see the boy.

Zabuza slowly stood up and nodded, "Lead the way Haku." He said.

A moment later they were heading in the direction Haku had found the blonde boy. Haku couldn't hear his crying any more and for a moment he was afraid that the boy had left, but he hadn't, he had simply stopped crying, his red and swollen eyes being the only remaining evidence that he had been crying at all. Zabuza sighed but walked over so that he was standing directly in front of the boy.

The blonde haired child looked up into the eyes of the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Zabuza saw sadness in his eyes that surpassed even Haku's when they had first met, and hidden behind this sadness, was an inner strength that Zabuza had never seen before. Zabuza could tell that this boy would become strong one day, with or without his help.

"What's your name kid?" The swordsman asked.

"Naruto." The boy answered, "Uzumaki Naruto."

Zabuza nodded, wondering what he should do next. He turned to Haku who simply gestured him to continue. "So…" He continued, "what are you doing out here by yourself?"

Naruto looked down again, "My village hates me." He answered, "I don't even know why. They call me 'demon' and 'monster', but I don't know what I did wrong."

Zabuza almost looked sorry for Naruto. He turned around and sat down next to him. "A demon huh? Well people have called me a demon before too." Surprised, Naruto looked up to him. "So I guess that makes us both demons." The swordsman continued.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked.

"I am Momochi Zabuza, master swordsman of the Hidden Mist village." He replied, "I am also one of the greatest ninja in the world."

Naruto looked sad again. "I was going to be a ninja," He stated, "I wanted to become Hokage one day, so that people would respect me. I even entered the academy a few weeks ago…but now I'll never be a ninja." His eyes began to tear again.

Zabuza smiled, though you would never be able to tell under the wrappings that covered his face. "Well you don't have to give up just yet." He replied. Naruto looked up in confusion. "I am a ninja," Zabuza continued, "I already have an apprentice, but I don't think I'd mind having another one…and I'm sure Haku would enjoy your company, he has seemed a bit lonely." Zabuza surprised even himself by how kind he was able to make himself in this situation. "But you would have to listen to everything I tell you, no matter how hard it is for you." He stood up again and held his hand down.

Naruto didn't know what to say. In a way he welt as though he had been given another chance…he could tell that this person was strong, and that he could help make Naruto strong as well. Perhaps he should follow this person and become a ninja under his teachings. On the other hand, many of the things that Konoha had done to him had made the poor boy untrusting. Could he really believe that this person would just offer him a new life right out of the blue? Furthermore, what did he mean when he said that he would have to listen to his orders, "no matter how hard it is."? What should he do?

When Naruto didn't answer, Zabuza lowered his hand and turned to Haku, who had just walked out from behind the trees. The swordsman shrugged as if to say "I tried" and began to walk back to the camp. Haku looked sadly at Naruto, wishing that there was something he could do to help, but knowing that there was nothing. He turned to follow Zabuza.

Naruto sighed. He didn't know if he could trust these people, but the alternative was to sit here until he starved or until someone else came along. And someone else might not be as willing to help as these people. Naruto stood up, wiped the tears from his eyes and ran after the two people who had offered him another chance at life.

Had he stayed for only another moment, Sarutobi would have found him, would have gone back to the village, reentered the academy, become a gennin, and wouldn't have seen Zabuza or Haku again for seven years.

But he didn't.


	2. Journey with Zabuza

Note: This one chapter is a stand alone story and dosn't really have much to do with the actual plot. It's purpose is to show, basically what Naruto's life as one of the two students of Zabuza is like. It does however mention a few things that will be important to the plot later on so it's not unimportant.

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Disclaimer: Naruto is not owned by me. Neither are any other characters in the Naruto story. But you probably knew that.**

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**Chapter 2: Journeying With Zabuza**

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Five years had passed since the day that Naruto had left the village hidden in the leaves. Naruto, Haku, and Zabuza trained nearly every day together. The Demon of the Hidden Mist had taught both boys very well. Naruto enjoyed the rigorous training and had learned so much from them. In the beginning Zabuza had been disappointed with Naruto. He had learned at a much slower pace then Haku and even some of the most basic jutsu had been difficult for him. But Naruto had refused to give up and eventually the gap had narrowed. He was now excellent at Suiton and basic ninjutsu, his taijutsu was better then Haku's, and his swordsmanship was topnotch. The team truly was a great one.

He didn't always enjoy what he did for a living. The first time he had ever killed someone was when he was eight. It was in self defense sure but it still traumatized him. However he had made a promise to Zabuza that he would follow his orders no matter how difficult, and he was not going to break a promise to the man who had saved his existence.

The trio's current mission was to Suna. Naruto always liked going to Suna, for that was where his only other friend, Garra of the Sand, lived. He had met Garra only a few months after he had first started his life with Zabuza and the two had created a fast friendship due to their similar lives. Garra had apparently been hated and feared throughout Suna due to a sand demon that had been sealed into him at birth. Naruto had wondered when he heard this if something similar was had happened to him but had shrugged it off as unimportant now that he had people who accepted him.

Naruto had asked Garra to come along as a forth member of their group but Zabuza hadn't allowed it. Either way Naruto was glad that he was seeing his friend again. He hadn't met with Garra in years.

"Hay Haku." He whispered so that Zabuza couldn't hear, "What's our mission again? I wasn't paying much attention when Zabuza-sama told us."

Haku rolled his eyes but smiled just the same, "There's been a person going around at Suna at night, killing people. We're going to stop him."

Naruto frowned. 'Stop him' the blonde boy knew, meant 'kill him'. Naruto didn't like killing. "How did we get picked for this job?" He asked, "Surely the Kazekage wouldn't hire three missing nin for a problem within his own village?"

Haku nodded, "The Kazekage didn't hire us, one of his aids did. The Kazekage doesn't know about us." Haku seemed to think for a second before continuing, "Actually, Zabuza-sama thinks that the aid asked us to do it because he thinks the perpetrator is a shinobi and he doesn't want to risk one of his own men being injured."

Naruto smirked, "But its okay for us to get hurt right?"

Haku nodded, "Zabuza-sama isn't angry though. The pay is surprisingly high for such a simple mission." Haku smiled and ruffled Naruto's hair, "Nothing we shouldn't be able to handle eh otouto?"

Naruto scowled. True Haku had always been like and older brother to him but it was still annoying when he treated him as though he was still five.

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A few hours later the three assassins were behind the walls of Suna. Zabuza sat quietly by the window as he watched the sun set. Haku was reading an orange book of some sort whose title Naruto couldn't see. And Naruto himself was lying back on the couch with an annoyed expression on his face. He had looked through the entire village and had found no sign of Garra. Now all he could look forward to was the stupid mission. 

"When are we going to start this!?" he yelled in annoyance.

Zabuza didn't turn away from the window, "The killer has only appeared at night so far." He answered, "We have a bit more time before we go out."

Naruto cursed under his breath. He didn't want to wait anymore. He just wanted to get out of this stupid village. Needless to say, Garra's unexplained absence had lowered his liking of Suna considerably.

"I'm getting something to eat," Naruto stated, "I'll be back before nightfall."

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Naruto walked down the streets of Suna, a stick of dango in his mouth. It was later then he had anticipated but he wasn't that worried, Zabuza-sama had probably left already, then when he returned he would yell at Naruto and give him some sort of horrible, body numbing, exercise to do for training. Well maybe he was a little worried. 

Suddenly he stopped. His nose twitched. There was an odd smell on the air, it was masked slightly by the dust but it was still one that Naruto would recognize anywhere. Blood, and lots of it. The blonde shinobi turned around and jumped onto a nearby rooftop, hoping that the less crowded air would give him a better sense of where the smell was coming from.

Naruto sniffed again, and cursed. The scent was coming from behind him, in the opposite direction of the place where his comrades were staying. He now had two choices. He could return to alert Zabuza and Haku and risk the person getting away, or he could head for the source of the scent by himself. Cursing one again he turned around and dashed off toward the scent.

A few moments later he jumped onto a rooftop and crouched down, sniffing again. The scent was coming from here…but obviously there was nothing here. What had happened? Had they already disappeared and cleaned up the evidence? So wrapped up in his own thoughts was he that he didn't hear the flying kunai until it was less then a few inches away from him.

Naruto quickly twisted away, the kunai barely grazing his shirt, and unsheathed his long katana. There were three of them. Each wore a simple Suna vest and held a kunai in each hand.

"Well, well," one of them whispered, "The famed Momochi Zabuza is too good for us, so he sent one of his little brats eh?"

Naruto frowned. This was a trap then? For Zabuza-sama? What of the nightly murders then, had that been only a tale to lure Naruto's sensei out? Naruto looked over the three that had ambushed him. The vests that they wore suggested that they were Chuunin or Jounin rank. Far stronger then Naruto could handle. But their stances were sloppy, and they looked apprehensive about attacking. Naruto suspected that they were not ninja at all, just a few punks that hoped to intimidate people by dressing as people stronger then they were.

Naruto smirked and stabbed his blade into the ground, then brought his hands together to make a handseal. One of the enemies jumped toward Naruto and swung his kunai in a mad arc. Naruto twisted around him and slammed his foot into the man's back, sending him sprawling onto the ground.

The blonde shinobi cycled through a couple more handseals and shouted at the top of his lungs, "SUITON: MIZUKEN!" he clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it forward, causing an enormous fist of water to shoot out of the ground and slam into the other two attackers, knocking them unconscious.

Naruto turned to the man on the floor, yanked his katana out of the ground, and slashed it downward. A moment before Naruto's blade connected a large stone wall rose up out of the ground and smashed into his shoulder, knocking him over and bruising him badly. Naruto rose to his feet and turned his head in the direction that the wall had come from. A fourth man was standing there, smirking, his hands still connected in a handseal. Naruto glared at him. There was no denying that this man was a ninja.

"That was a cheap shot." Naruto stated, though his voice was completely calm. Zabuza had taught him long ago that yelling at your attackers got you nowhere. It was much more affective to sound indifferent.

The man smirked, "You must be one of those brats that follow that freak Zabuza around." He stated, obviously trying to anger the young shinobi.

It worked. Naruto slammed his hands together and screamed, "SUITON: MIZURAPPA!!!" releasing a large blast of water from his mouth.

The Suna ninja smirked and called out, "Doton: Doro Gaeshi!" A large section of the roof of the building rose up to block the water blast.

Naruto clenched his hand around his sword and started to move foreword, only to be stopped as he watched to his horror, a half dozen ninja jump out of the hole in the roof and circle around him. Naruto looked back and forth in fear. This was not good. One ninja he might be able to hold off…but seven!? Swallowing his doubt, Naruto held his blade up in a defensive position.

One of the ninja made a handseal and yelled, "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu!"

Naruto jumped backwards in an attempt to dodge the fire blast, only to be slammed in the back of the head by the blunt end of one of his attacker's kunai. He slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

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Naruto opened his eyes, and looked around in confusion. He was back in their hotel room, Haku was sitting on a chair next to his bed, Zabuza was nowhere to be found. 

"Good morning Naruto." Haku stated once he realized that the blonde boy was awake.

"What happened?" Naruto asked in response.

Haku smiled, "That was a clever thing you did, screaming out your jutsu like that. Obviously Zabuza and I heard you and came running to help. We must have arrived right when you were hit in the head."

Naruto nodded, "And you and Zabuza-sama are okay?"

Haku's smile widened, "Of course. The Suna ninja insisted on fighting Zabuza alone and he ended the fight in only a few seconds. We rushed you back here after that to make sure you weren't seriously injured."

Naruto chuckled at the thought of seven ninja all fighting his sensei at once. "So then," he continued, "What was the deal with the murderer and all?"

Haku scowled, "There was no murderer." he answered, "The person who hired us was apparently a friend of someone Zabuza killed in the past. This was all just a set-up so that we would come and he could have his revenge. Zabuza was pretty annoyed when he heard that we wouldn't get any money for this."

Just at that moment the door opened and in walked Zabuza himself, a furious scowl on his face. He turned to face Naruto, "So…you were late last night." Naruto grabbed the blankets that covered him and pulled them up to his chin. Zabuza walked over to him, grabbed his hair roughly, and yanked him up so that the two were looking eye to eye. "You told me you'd be back before nightfall…with your healing rate you should be up and out of bed in a few hours, and when you are…you'd better prepare for the toughest training course of your life!" He pushed Naruto back into the bed and walked out of the room.

Naruto chuckled. Zabuza acted tough and nasty, but the young shinobi knew that it was only a ruse. Naruto would bet his katana that Zabuza had been waiting outside the door, waiting for Naruto to wake up so that he could make sure he was okay. The Demon of the Hidden Mist would of course give him a gruelingly tough training exercise but the reason was not to punish Naruto, but rather because he had worried the Demon by being hurt and he wanted to push Naruto so that next time he wouldn't need to come and rescue him. Then Haku would offer to do the training as well, telling Zabuza it is because he wishes to better himself but really just wanting to comfort and help Naruto through it.

Naruto knew this because it had all happened many times before. This was his life, and this was what his life would be for a long time to come.

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Alaster506: Sarutobi was beyond furious at the time so I think he can be forgiven if he forgets to articulate a bit. Thank you very much for the comment though. 

RobotPirateNinja: The point of the story is IF the villagers were able to overcome their fear and attack Naruto all together. And as for Sarutobi executing them, it was basically every non ninja in the village grouped together that attacked Naruto. He can't execute them all or he'd be left with an empty village.

cyclone08: He scared them so badly that they were too afraid to speak. I personally think that that's pretty good. As for him sensing the other ninja, Naruto had run a very long way before Sarutobi had even herd what had happened so he was out of his sensing range, perhaps I should have made that clear. When I said that Sarutobi would have found him if he had waited another moment, I ment that he would have fallen into his sensing range.

everyone else: Thank you very much for your reviews. I hope that you continue to like my story.

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Also, would anyone know of a good place for me to translate things to Japanese? I have prexisting jutsu as their Japanese names but my water fist jutsu needs to be translated. I also want Haku to call Naruto "little brother" in Japanese. 


	3. The Land of Waves

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. But I...actually I can't think of a funny thing to say here. **

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**Chapter 3: The Land of Waves

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Two years later, on a pathway just outside Kanoha, walked a group of nine people, six Gennin, two Jounin sensei, and an old bridge builder. Hatake Kakashi, the famed copy-ninja of Kanoha, walked in front, a bored look on his face. Or what could be seen of it anyways. Behind him walked the three members of his Gennin team, Uchiha Sauske, one of the two last known members of the famed Uchiha clan and rookie of the year, Haruno Sakura, one of Sauske's most adamant fan-girls and a theoretical genius, and Satsu Rokujou, a much hated bully who liked nothing more then to see others in pain. In the middle walked a man named Tazuna, a bridge builder from the land of waves who had hired these ninja to defend him on his trip back home. Bringing up the rear was Yuuhi Kurenai, a newly instated Jounin and master Genjutsu user and her own team, Inuzuka Kiba, a rough and rugged boy who was never seen without his canine sidekick Akamaru, Aburame Shino, the quiet boy that was known for being a living hive for a large number of chakra eating bugs, and Hyuuga Hinata, a timid girl with little confidence despite the fact that she was the heiress to the strongest clan in all of Kanoha.

Kiba was exited, this was after all his first ever C-ranked mission, even if he did have to share it with another team. "Hey Shino," he whispered to his teammate, "What so you think are the odds that we'll be doing some actual fighting here?"

The bug user shrugged, "Honestly," he replied, "not very high. Since this is only a C-ranked mission, the only people who would be attacking are simple bandits, and with eight bodyguards I would think most bandits would simply wait for an easier target."

Kiba cursed. The only reason that they had gone on this C-ranked mission was that Kiba had been complaining about the ease and boringness of the D-ranked ones and Kurenai had apparently had spoken to the Hokage about it. The Sandaime had agreed, but only on the condition that a second team also be sent out to help make sure no one got hurt. But what was the point of going on a higher ranked mission if they weren't going to fight anything?

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In the Land of Waves Naruto sat down in a dark room and listened to his sensei as he made a business deal with a short, fat man named Gato. 

"Your prices are high mister Momochi," the slimy man stated, "but I also know that you are the best in the business."

Zabuza scowled, "Don't try and flatter me Gato, just tell me what my job is and what you are willing to pay me."

Gato nodded, "There is a man named Tazuna, a bridge builder who is becoming a serious threat to my boating business and also to the economics of the Land of Waves. I want you to kill him, before he finishes his bridge. I have tried to threaten him with my own men but the greedy man simply refuses to back down."

Naruto looked up, "And this man, Tazuna," he interrupted, "does he have any family?"

Gato slowly shook his head, "No. He is just a lonely and greedy man who only cares about money and doesn't stop to consider how many people he's harms getting it. Many people are employed by my boating business and if he finishes his bridge all of them will be out of a job. Anyways, as to your pay…"

Naruto didn't want to hear anymore. Roughly he stood up and walked out of the room and onto a large balcony. A moment later he heard the door open again and turned to see that Haku had followed him out. "Are you alright otouto?" he asked.

Naruto slowly nodded, "It's just…even if this man is a heartless and selfish person with no family who only cares about money…does he really deserve to die?"

Haku placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, "I don't agree with it either," he replied, "But you're not a bad person if that's what's bothering you."

Naruto shook his head, "How can you say that? I've killed so many people. Many of whom I'm sure didn't deserve to die. People back in Kanoha used to call me a demon because of this…thing inside me. Maybe they were right."

Haku shook his head, "Don't say that Naruto, you've also done so many good things. You have saved the lives of just as many people, you have even saved Zabuza-sama."

Naruto raised an eyebrow in confusion, "I don't remember ever saving Zabuza." He replied, "When did that happen?"

Haku smiled, "You remember what Zabuza was like when we first found you. He was bloodthirsty and cruel. He didn't care who he killed as long as he was paid well for it. You changed him, you taught him how to love. He'd never let anyone see it, and still has a long ways to go, but I believe you have already saved his spirit."

As Haku finished the door opened and Zabuza stepped out on to the balcony. "We've got our new jobs," he stated, "I'm sending the Demon Brothers out first. Naruto, I want you to follow them with one of your shadow clones, apparently this Tazuna person has hired a few ninja bodyguards so I want you to watch what happens with the Demon Brothers. Find out who our enemies are and then report back to me."

Naruto rolled his eyes. The Demon Brothers, Gouzu and Meizu, were two of Zabuza's "temporary" followers. Naruto called them temporary because followers like them rarely lasted more then a few months. Some died, others panicked and quit when they saw the dangers of following a missing-nin. It honestly annoyed him when they picked up people like that. After all Naruto and Haku should be more then enough for whatever job Zabuza wanted them to do, right? But he nodded anyways and turned to go inform the brothers.

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Kakashi was on his guard…that was the third time they had passed a puddle just like this one. This of course wouldn't be a big deal except that it hadn't rained in weeks and there was no other body of water around here. He turned his head back to look at Kurenai who nodded, showing that she too had noticed something amiss. 

He didn't have much time to think it over however as two figures seemed to appear out of nowhere, each with a metal claw on one of their hands and a lethal looking chain connecting the claws. So shocked at this sudden attack was Kakashi that he didn't even move as the two mist Chuunin quickly wrapped their chain around him and squeezed until the jagged edges of the chain tore completely through his body.

The surrounding Gennin and Tazuna looked on in shock as what was left of Sharingan Kakashi fell to the ground.

Naruto smirked as he watched the fight from the treetops. Of course he could tell that the Jounin was about as dead as he was, probably waiting to see what he brothers would do. Naruto took this time to observe the six Gennin.

Two of them were fighting crazily, without any apparent strategy to their wild punches, one of these he could tell as being an Inuzuka both from the fang-like markings on his face and the small pup that fought with him, the other didn't seem to come from a clan and fought only with the basic academy taijutsu. Another, who he could instantly tell was a Hyuuga girl, looked terrified. She was shaking so badly that Naruto might have thought she was having a seizure and even when one of the two brothers went for her she didn't move. The other girl, a pink haired one who Naruto had to admit was very pretty, was keeping her cool but seemed to be overwhelmed by her more powerful enemies and allies. The only two that seemed to know what they were doing were a boy who used strange bugs that came out of his body and kept his face covered, obviously an Aburame, and another boy whose taijutsu style revealed him to be an Uchiha.

But something bothered Naruto. Why was there Gennin here at all? If Tazuna knew that he was in danger from one of the richest men on earth…why would any ninja village send six Gennin? And ones as fresh out of the academy as these ones obviously were. For as much money as he had, Gato could have hired anyone, and in fact he had hired someone who was way too dangerous for these kids.

At that moment, the Jounin reappeared out of the ground, quickly knocked the two brothers out, and began speaking to his teammates. Naruto strained his ears to hear the conversation.

"These ninja were unexpected," stated the silver haired Jounin, "Tazuna only paid for a C-ranked mission, but this elevates it to a B or A rank."

Well that explained Naruto's original question but it also raised another question. Why wouldn't this man pay for the best protection?

"We're not experienced enough for these kinds of battles," stated the pink haired girl, "Even with Kakashi-sensei and Kurenai-sensei. We should go back."

Wait……did she just say Kakashi? As in the famed Sharingan Kakashi!? Zabuza-sama would want to hear about this.

The other Jounin, Kurenai he believed she was called, nodded, "This is too much for our young students, we should go back and send a more experienced group."

The Inuzuka boy looked furious, "Oh no!" he yelled, "I am not going back to doing stupid D-ranked missions! I say we keep going."

The Aburame stepped up, "Kiba, stop being rash for a moment and consider what we would be getting into. We have no experience fighting other ninja. If this happens again and one of the Jounin sensei aren't around-"

"Then we'll deal with it!" Kiba yelled in annoyance, "We're not babies you know, we're ninja! And ninja don't give up when the road gets a little more bumpy then expected!"

Naruto couldn't help but be impressed. This boy certainly had guts, even if he did need a little polishing. If he lived long enough Naruto was sure he could be a strong shinobi.

Kakashi seemed to think for a moment, "Well maybe we should ask the boy in the trees what he thinks?"

Naruto cursed.

* * *

RobotPitateNinja: Perhaps. It's really not important but if you'd like I can have Sarutobi mention it when next he sees Naruto. 

Raptor2001: Zabuza vs. Kisame? Well I do have plans for a confrontation of sorts between them. You'll have to wait to see exactly what it is.

* * *

Now for something new. ONE of them, either Zabuza or Haku, will die on the bridge battle. One will not. I already know which one I want it to be but if enough people vote the other way I might change my mind.

I wont tell you who I want it to be (because that would stop one side of the voters and make the others go crazy and I wouldn't get an acurate vote).


	4. Confronting the Enemy

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Konoha, or any Naruto-y Kanoha-y products.

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Chapter 4: Confronting The Enemy

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In many ways Haruno Sakura was an ordinary girl. She was intelligent but her skills were nothing to be particularly impressed with. She was pretty but had nothing that particularly singled her out as exceedingly beautiful besides her pink hair. She didn't come from a prestigious family. She wasn't particularly well known for anything other then her obsession with Uchiha Sauske, and even that wasn't very unusual. But there was one thing that she had that gave her the potential to be greater then any of the other, seemingly superior girls in the village hidden in the leaves. She had the drive, ambition, and thirst to prove herself to push herself to achieve anything that she wanted, whatever that may be. That was why she was the most assertive of all the girls about trying to get Sauske as a boyfriend. That was why she was able to, despite her dismal physical capabilities, gain the middle of the class through constant study. And that was why she was the only Gennin in the group that had the knowledge to realize just how much stronger this new boy was then the two they had just encountered.

He was slightly taller then Sauske, and slightly more muscular. He wore a dark grey long-sleeve shirt with an ice blue flaming spiral insignia on the front and a kanji for "little demon" on the back, and dark blue denim jeans. His ninja shoes had closed toes and he had bandages that wrapped around his arms, similar to that of a bizarre, green-spandex wearing boy that she remembered seeing once or twice back in Kanoha, except that this blonde-haired boy's also apparently extended over his chest and up to his lower face. He carried a long, sleek katana that had no handgaurd and apparently no sheath, simply being tucked behind a midnight-blue cloth belt. He carried himself with a simple confidence that seemed either foolish or perhaps frightening considering who his enemies are and even from twenty yards away she could feel the sheer force of his chakra surrounding her. However this strength didn't seem to carry any killing intent with it, in fact it almost seemed friendly. That combined with his cheerful smile made it difficult for Sakura to be afraid of him, but she knew and forced herself not to let her guard down.

Sauske on the other hand, seemed to detect no threat at all from this new boy and boldly walked out to face him.

The Uchiha dropped into a fighting stance but the blonde-haired boy held his arms up and took a step back, "I'm not here to fight." He said nervously, "At least not yet. There's no way I could last more then a couple minuets against one Jounin, let alone two and their Gennin teams."

Sauske's eyes narrowed. He didn't let up his fighting stance. "Who are you?" he asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Who am I?" He asked, seemingly to himself, "I suppose I can tell you that...my name is Naruto. Momochi Naruto. And who are you? I mean I know that you are an Uchiha but honestly I wasn't aware that there were any of them left. Are you a survivor of the famed Uchiha massacre?"

Sauske's eyes opened wide in fury for just a moment and he charged at Naruto. He jumped and kicked at the blonde-haired boy in mid-air, who simply smiled and grabbed his foot, twisting him into the ground. His rage growing, Sauske slammed his foot upward, but Naruto simply brought his own knee up to block the blow. Now furious Sauske slammed his hands together and cycled through a few handsigns while screaming, "KATON: GOUKAKYUU NO JUTSU!!" Creating an intense blast of fire from his mouth that, to the shock of nearly everyone around, completely engulfed Naruto. It seemed as though Sauske had already won.

Sakura was astounded that this seemingly strong person had lost like that, but at the same time ecstatic that her beloved Sauske had won so fast, "Yeah Sauske!" She yelled, "You really are the greatest Sauske! No one can defeat you!"

Sauske didn't answer. He simply laid down on the ground, staring at the bright, dissipating flames. And when the flames disappeared he opened his eyes wide in shock. Naruto stood, his blade out and held out defensively in front of himself, two burn marks were on the ground on either side of him, his remaining hand still holding on to Sauske's foot. He had cut the flame in two.

Naruto smiled and pulled Sauske up by his foot. "Wow, I'm impressed." He stated, "I've never seen a rookie Gennin that can use jutsu that powerful." A confused look appeared on his face, "But was that a yes or a no?" Sauske pulled a kunai out of his pack and stabbed it at Naruto.

* * *

Sakura turned to look at her sensei in worry, "Kakashi-sensei, why aren't you stopping this? Sauske could get hurt!"

Kakashi looked down at her and smiled serenely, "And to what affect?" he asked, "If the boy wanted to hurt Sauske he would have already, and I think that this will be good for him."

Sakura looked incredulous, "Good for him? How?"

Kakashi looked up to the mock battle to see Sauske on the ground once again, this time with a light bruise on his left arm, "Sauske is too proud." he answered, "he thinks that because he is an Uchiha he must be the strongest person of his own age, and getting rookie of the year wasn't exactly a help. For him to be beaten so easily by a boy his own age, hopefully will humble him a bit and that will make him work harder in the future."

"But, Kakashi-sensei!"

Kakashi held up a hand to silence the girl, "Don't worry Sakura," he said, "if it does get dangerous then I'll step in. For now I just want to see what I can find out about this boy. Oh look! Kiba has already joined the fight."

* * *

Naruto smirked as the Inuzuka boy swung his fist at him. Effortlessly Naruto grabbed his fist and twisted it out of the way. The Inuzuka continued his attack by attempting to knee Naruto in the gut but once again his attack was blocked with little effort. Kiba simply smirked and tilted his head downward.

"What are you do-AH!" Naruto quickly had to duck his head as Kiba's small dog came soaring over his masters head, it's mouth open and ready to maul Naruto's face off. Naruto slammed his head forward right as the dog passed over him, sending it sprawling to the ground. Kiba's eyes opened wide in shock and then with a quick movement of his foot Naruto tripped the Inuzuka and sent him to the ground next to his dog.

Naruto grinned "That was a pretty good move!" he stated and jumped backwards, distancing himself from his opponent.

Naruto had been telling the truth, the move had been both sneaky and brilliant for a young rookie Gennin. Once again he felt himself very impressed with the Inuzuka boy. He hoped that in the end he wouldn't have to be killed.

He turned to view the remainder of his opponents. Two of the Gennin, the Aburame and the beautiful pink-haired girl, were standing in a defensive position, though both seemed ready to attack if they spotted an opening. Another, brown-haired boy wore a manic grin, as though he were simply enjoying the sight of his allies being beaten so badly, which made Naruto's stomach turn in disgust. And the Hyuuga girl was still hiding behind the leg of the lady whom Naruto could only assume was her Jounin sensei. The Jounin themselves seemed completely unfazed by what was happening, not that he had expected anything different. He had purposely released a large amount of chakra before the fight had started in hopes that some of the smarter Gennin would sense it and stay back while the more rash ones attacked. He could probably beat them all at once but he might actually have to push himself enough so that he would be forced hurt them which was something that he didn't want to do just yet. The Jounin of course simply called the bluff and were now observing him, waiting to see what he would do.

There was only one thing bothering him...he couldn't see where Tazuna had gone. Had he run away? No...Naruto could still sense his presence. He must be hidden under a Genjutsu of some sort. His eye's moved over the two Jounin expectantly but he couldn't tell if they were doing anything or not. One of them must be a great master of Genjutsu to be able to use one that could completely conseal the old man and not show any signs of creating it. His job was to find information on his enemies and it was good that he had deduced that one of the Jounin mas a Genjutsu master, but Zabuza-sama would want to know which one it is.

Another thing that bothered him was that he was almost certain that he recognized one of the Jounin from somewhere. It was the silver-haired one with the mask that covered his face, that almost seemed bored with the whole situation. Naruto wasn't exactly known for his ability to remember faces from the bingo books or wanted posters so if he recognized this man then he must be someone of monumental importance.

He didn't have much time to worry about it though, as he heard the familiar whistling sound of a kunai cutting through the air and instinctively twisted his head out of the way.

Annoyed now, Naruto turned and grabbed Kiba by the neck just as the dog boy was about to tackle him. "I already told you idiots that I don't want to fight you...so why don't you just back off so that I can deliver my message?" Kiba simply choked and tried, pointlessly to try and pry Naruto's hand off of his neck.

The sound of a second kunai caught Naruto's ears and he twisted his remaining arm around to catch the blade in mid-air, only to be met with a strong pain in his stomach. Kiba had slammed his knee into Naruto's gut. Naruto's muscles clenched instinctively and his grip on the Inuzuka's neck loosened, allowing him to pull free. Kiba grinned victoriously and swung his remaining fist directly at Naruto's face.

Naruto twisted his head out of the way and grappled his arms around Kiba's shoulders. "Will you stop for two seconds?!" He yelled into the Inuzuka's face, "I told you twice now that I'm not here to fight, I only want to talk!" Amazingly Kiba's face took on a look of contemplation and the force of his struggling lessened considerably. He was beginning to listen to what Naruto was saying.

Naruto's relief was short lived however as another sound reached his ears.

"KATON!"

Naruto's eye's opened wide in shock.

"GOUKAKYUU!"

He wouldn't...he couldn't use such a destructive jutsu with his teammate in the line of fire.

"NO JUTSU!"

Without thinking Naruto shifted his arms around Kiba's shoulders, twisted to the side and tossed him out of the way, then unsheathing his sword he turned to deflect the flames that he could feel coming up on him.

* * *

Kakashi stared on with a shocked face as he watched his student attack his own teammate. He could understand that Sauske was angry and annoyed but he really thought that his student had learned the value of teamwork from his bell test. This was a serious disappointment. He decided that he would wait a little bit longer to see what would happen during this one-sided battle and then...he would continue the mission. Sauske needed to learn teamwork and the only way that that would happen is if he were to be put into a situation where he would be unable to succeed unless he worked with his team.

Kakashi squinted his eye in an attempt to see what had happened now that the flames had started to dissipate.

* * *

Sauske smirked as he watched his flames disappear. Naruto stood, his head held downward and his blond hair covering his eyes. The sleeve of his right arm had been burned off and the arm itself was badly damaged. As Sauske had figured the act of saving Kiba had slowed him down long enough so that he hadn't been able to deflect the entire blast.

"Well, well," Whispered the Uchiha with more then a hint of superiority in his voice, "Looks like the wisecracking idiot isn't as tough as he thinks he is. You should have known that there was no way you could have stood up to an Uchiha for long."

As though someone had flipped a switch the air suddenly changed. Sauske staggered backwards, a look of terror on his face, and it was easy to tell why. Once crisp and clean the air was now thick and heavy and a powerful feeling of malice permeated everything. A strange red energy misted almost invisibly off of Naruto's figure.

After a moment Naruto spoke, in a voice that was far darker and more feral then it had been a moment ago, "You...you would risk the well-being of your own ally...just to get to me?" The red, mist-like energy intensified and Naruto turned his head up, revealing that his once blue eyes had turned piercing red, "YOU DISGUST ME!!"

* * *

Sakura's hand went up to her throat. She felt as though she couldn't breath, sweat oozed from her pale forehead, and she couldn't stood herself from shaking uncontrollably. whatever reservations she had felt about the danger of this boy were now dashed. In desperation she shoved her hands into her eye's hoping against hope that she could shut out the horrible feeling that pierced into her very soul.

Sakura felt a hand place itself on her shoulder and she looked up in the hope of seeing her sensei's comforting face, only to see her other teammate Satsu staring at the scene before him with an insane grin on his face.

"Looks like this is the end of your precious Uchiha twerp." He joked cruelly, "But don't worry, if I can find a box small enough I'll help you gather up what's left of him."

Sakura's eye's narrowed in hate, "Sauske won't lose..." she whispered so quietly he could barely hear.

Satsu raised an eyebrow, "Eh? You blind? Or just stupid? Look at the jerk, he can't even stand up right he so scared."

Sakura, against her better judgement, turned back to look at the fight again and indeed Sauske had fallen onto his back and was pathetically struggling to get back onto his feet, but only succeeding in flopping around on the ground like a fish. The Kunoichi turned her head away again in fear.

"You're...you're disgusting," She choked out, "I hate you!"

Satsu simply shrugged, "You hate me? Then you must really hate that Uchiha-teme. I mean all I did was simply point out what was going to happen, he actually attacked that Inuzuka idiot. But I suppose I shouldn't be that surprised about your stinkin double-standard by now eh?"

Sakura turned her head down and tried to block out all of the painful things that seemed to have all jumped on her so suddenly, but she couldn't help but recognize the truth in her cruel teammate's words. Sauske had indeed risked Kiba's life for seemingly nothing. And then this Naruto boy, their enemy, had saved him, getting badly burned in the process.

But no...she mustn't think like that. Sauske was her hero and this...demon could never be a good guy...certainly not a better guy then Sauske-kun right? Sauske didn't really do anything that dangerous did he? Kiba might have been hurt but most of the fire would have been blocked by their enemies body. Sauske did what was necessary to try and defeat an enemy that he couldn't defeat otherwise...right. And surely this boy must have had some ulterior motive for saving Kiba...his intentions couldn't be pure...right? But then he seems so angry at Sauske for risking Kiba...but no...he's just angry because Sauske got him. That has to be the answer, Sauske-kun was just doing his job and Naruto has some other, sinister reason for saving Kiba.

Slowly Sakura looked up. Already the dark aura that cut through the air seemed less frightening.

* * *

Kakashi was horrified. He, unlike any of the Gennin, recognized the energy perfectly, having been there the first time it had shown it's face in the village hidden in the leaves. But in all his life he never expected to feel the power of the Kyuubi again. As far as he knew the boy who had been chosen as the vessel of the nine-tailed had died years ago when he had fled the village...he still remembered the Hokage's rage as he executed the ringleaders of the group that had let the village in revolt against the Kyuubi boy.

But at the same time he certainly remembered the boy himself, blonde like this boy and probably the same age by this time. He had only seen him a few times but from what he did see the boy had been a kind and strong child. Never hating anyone for what they had done to him. How had he become a killer like he now was? Who had turned him into such a fearsome devil? His mind flicked bask to what the boy had stated earlier, that his name was "Momochi Naruto" and his face paled. He knew that Naruto had been the name of the Kyuubi boy, but it had not been Momochi Naruto, but Uzumaki Naruto. There was only one person that he knew with that name, and it couldn't be a coincidence. Naruto had been taken in by the demon of the hidden mist...Momochi Zabuza. Though he hated the idea of harming his sensei's legacy, Kakashi began making handsigns.

* * *

But however bad Sakura and Kakashi and the rest of them felt the killing intent of the nine-tailed fox, none of them were in as bad of a shape as the boy whom it was directed at. Sauske's brain was going haywire. In all his life he had only felt worse once and that was an experience that he did not often talk about. He could feel his body being torn apart by the sheer killing intent that pooled off of his foe. His blood was boiling and his skin was melting, it had to be, that was the only explanation for the horrible feeling that was encompassing him. After a moment he became aware that Naruto was speaking.

"You think yourself so great...and why? Because your daddy was great? Because your mommy was great? You are stupid. Strength does not come from blood or even fancy bloodlines, it comes from guts and willpower and experience and time and all of the other things that you don't have." Naruto paused for a moment and reached his hand up to the wrappings on his face and tore them off viciously, revealing fangs that had extended and sharpened to a deadly point.

"I have fought a lot of idiots like you," He continued, "Guys who thought that because they had a renowned name that made them invincible. I fought them and now every single one of them are dead. Some were strong, some not, but they all overestimated themselves. There is not a Gennin on earth, no matter what family they come from, that can defeat me. Come back when you have a bit more experience on your belt."

Sauske was barely listening, and yet somehow he understood every word, he was too frightened not to. He watched as Naruto took a single step forward, and then another. With each increasing step the affect on his body became worse, he was sweating and shaking and couldn't stand up no matter how hard he tried to get his limbs to respond. He felt his body hemorrhaging and his vision was becoming blurry from lack of blood to his brain. Then, all of a sudden an intense pain appeared in the center of his chest, so intense that it blocked all else out. Dimly he looked down.

Piercing through the center of his chest, was Naruto's katana.

* * *

TUI: Glad you like it. Yeah I've decided on who is going to die now. And I hope that I do not dissapoint you.

RobotPirateNinja: Naruto is about as strong as Chunnin exam Neji at this point.

Starfire201: Good point but I have two different directions that this story could take and I wanted to know wich ones people would like better. It doesn't matter as I have now made up my mind to do the way that I want it to be anyways. As for Zabuza not thinking, he suspects that Gato is lying but he is trying very hard not to let it bother him. Deep down Naruto has turned him into a better person but he doesn't want to admit that (especially to himself) so he made a point of not questioning Gato. He knows that if he does figure out that Tazuna is a better person then Gato says then he wont be able to bring himself to do his job and so he simply doesn't allow himself to find out.


	5. Unsettling

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would not be writing this would I?**

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**Chapter 4: Unsettling**

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Naruto slowly shook his head, a drop of blood falling from his mouth and onto Sasuke's headband. His eyes flicked down to an arm that protruded from his chest, covered in his blood. For a fraction of a second he thought that he saw a few sparks of electricity fly out of his wound but decided that it was just an illusion brought on from lack of blood to the brain. His eyes flicked to the right and he grinned painfully at the gray haired Jounin that had attacked him.

He wasn't worried about the injury, it wouldn't last. What was much more worrying to his mind was his own actions of the last few moments. He looked down at the badly injured boy underneath him, his eyes glazing over, blood pouring down his mouth like a river. Naruto couldn't believe that he had done this...what had gotten into him? Why had he lost control? He had felt the power of the fox pulse into him when he was angry or scared before and try to manipulate his actions but he had never lost himself to it before. Why had he this time? Could it be that...he really was becoming a demon?

A wave of pain shot through him and he realized that the Jounin was pulling his arm out of Naruto's chest. He coughed up more blood and felt his energy begin to leave him.

Before he lost his connection he turned his head to focus on the Jounin and mustering up as much strength as he could he spoke, "Jounin ninja...'cough'...sorry 'bout that. I wonder if I might know your name before I go?"

The gray-haired man showed know emotion but replied, "Kakashi...Hatake Kakashi is my name...Uzumaki-san"

Naruto's eyes opened wide in shock...and he vanished in a puff of smoke.

* * *

Miles away, in a simple square room, Momochi Naruto opened his eyes and stood up from his meditative stance. He felt a dull pain in his chest from where his clone had been attacked but it was completely drowned out by the feeling of dread and shock that the Jounin Kakashi had given him.

And also by his own lack of control. His mind flicked back to the other times that the fox's power had reared it's ugly head. The boosts had always been minimal, he had been a bit faster, a bit stronger, a bit angrier that was for sure. But never had it been this extreme.

He distinctly remembered the first time that it had ever happened. It had only been a year after Zabuza-sama had found him on the borders of the Fire Nation, he had been fighting a cloud-nin with Haku. The ninja was only a Gennin and Haku was handling it pretty easily himself, until Naruto had slipped up and Haku had taken a kunai in his back to save him. Naruto had never been so furious before. His hair began to grow out, his fangs and nails had become pointed, and his whisker marks had become slightly thicker. Haku had later said that a light re mist had also surrounded him. He had attacked the Gennin and nearly killed him. It hadn't taken Zabuza very long to figure out what Naruto was after that...

For weeks after Naruto's body had ached. It was as though he had been caught in the middle of an avalanche. And even worse, it had become difficult for him to control his chakra afterwards. As though some sort of dam was blocking the flow. The aching had gone away, the chakra dam never had. He had eventually gotten used to it and improved his chakra control but it had always made learning a new technique a pain since it was almost impossible for him to determine how much chakra to use.

Every subsequent time he had been taken over by the fox's power the aching had come back and the chakra block had gotten worse. The more power he used on the worse it was. But he had never in his life felt anywhere near as much power as he had just now...and the strange thing was, he didn't ache. Nor was he dizzy or disoriented and the chakra dam felt...gone! What had happened!?

Also strange was the sheer amount of power that had overtaken him. He had been angry, furious even, at the arrogant Uchiha boy true enough. But he had been far angrier in the past and had never gone out of control like that. He had barely been able to stop himself from landing a fatal blow at the last second. The Uchiha would be in bed for a while but thankfully he would not die.

He jumped to his feet and walked out the nearby door, intent on finding Zabuza-sama and asking him about it.

He didn't have long to look, Haku was standing right outside his door, the older boy's fist was in the air, prepared to knock.

"Oh, Naruto your up. Zabuza-sama wants to know if you have a report for him yet."

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, I got the information about the enemy, and I also need his help on something."

Haku smiled, "What is it? Maybe I can help."

Naruto thought for a moment. He doubted that Haku would be able to help him with this but at the same time he knew that the person who was like his brother would want to know about whatever might be bothering him. Slowly he recounted the tale, making sure to explain in detail what had happened with the nine-tails and why it bothered him so much.

Haku shook his head, "I don't understand what happened, and I doubt that Zabuza-sama would either. You are a Jinchuuriki and really not much is known about them because they are so rare. If I were you I would try to talk to the fox and see what he knows."

Naruto sighed. He had spoken to the fox a few times in the past and in general it had always started and ended the same way. With the enormous creature trying futilely to kill him through the giant bars that contained him.

"Fine," Naruto replied, "if Zabuza-sama doesn't know anyting then I will have a chat with the Kyuubi. But I would prefer if Zabuza could help me instead."

Haku smiled sadly at him, "I know otouto, I know."

* * *

Kakashi sighed in exasperation. A moment ago he was terrified that he had been too late, that his student had been killed. Now he almost wished that had happened...almost. At least it would be a lot less complicated that way.

Amazingly the katana had not seriously injured Sasuke. The blade had slipped through two of his ribs at just the right angle so that it missed his lungs, heart, esophagus, and any other vital organ. It had only cut through flesh and muscle.

Sasuke had recovered from the side effects of the Kyuubi's chakra remarkably fast and though he seemed to be in a decent bit of pain he was quite adamantly refusing to turn back. Kakashi didn't want to go on to possibly have to deal with a famous and dangerous ninja like Zabuza with Gennin to deal with, much less an injured one.

But Sasuke refused outright to turn back. He wanted to fight Naruto again, even if it killed him. He kept babbling about how "That boy would be the next test of his power." Eventually Kakashi had given up trying to convince him and gone over to speak with Kurenai and Tazuna.

"We have to turn back now," Kurenai stated, having also recognized the power of the nine-tails and the names Momochi and Naruto.

Tazuna was not happy. He was now desperately trying to convince a pair of Jounin, neither of whom wanted to continue.

"I know that this isn't exactly what you signed up for, but I did pay in advance and you do have a responsibility to protect me at least until we get back to the Wave Country."

Kakashi shook his head, "You mislead the Hokage as to what the mission entailed, technically we would be within our rights to kill you ourselves right now."

A bead of sweat rolled down Tazuna's forehead, "Listen, I'm sorry for what I did but I couldn't afford a B or A ranked mission, if you knew my story I'm sure that you would agree that I had no other choice."

Kurenai's eyes narrowed, "Well we have plenty of time, why don't you explain it to us?" She spoke with a hint of ice in her voice that would have chilled even Kakashi's spine if it had been directed at him.

Tazuna shook his head, "There's no time, I have to get back to the Wave Country as soon as possible. Lives are at stake."

Kurenai rolled her eyes, "Lives are always at stake in the ninja world mister Tazuna, if we took on a job for every sob story that couldn't pay that came along we would be a bankrupt village. We're going back."

Tazuna sighed, he only had one more card up his sleeve. If this didn't work then nothing would, "You're right of course. I was in way over my head from the start. I'll just go on by myself...but since I am sure to die can you please send a letter out to the Wave Country explaining what happened to my daughter and grandson. I'm 'sniff' all they have and when I die they will probably end up on the streets and my dearest daughter will have to resort to selling herself and my grand-kid will certainly have to become a petty thief." He took a dramatic sigh, "But I'm sure if you explain to them that the village of Kanoha just couldn't spare a few ninja to protect me because I couldn't pay then they will feel much better about it..."

Kakashi looked exasperated. His visible eye was half closed and you could see his frown underneath his mask. In all his life he had never heard such a stupidly blatant attempt to guilt a Jounin ninja like himself. He couldn't believe that this presumptuous man was actually trying to do something like this. He couldn't believe the look of expectancy on his face. He couldn't believe how incredibly corny that had just sounded ...but what he really couldn't believe that the guilting, corny, expectant, speech was actually working.

* * *

Sakura looked up as she heard the familiar footsteps of her sensei approaching. She had been doting over Sasuke ever since Kurenai had used her minimal knowledge of medical jutsu to stop his bleeding. The past actions had been very upsetting for her and she was seriously hoping that they would be turning back.

As soon as she saw the exasperated look on her sensei's face she knew that she was going to be disappointed. In the background Tazuna was grinning stupidly. Kurenai on the other hand was glaring at Kakashi's back so ferociously that the pink haired Gennin was amazed that he wasn't dissolving where he stood.

Sure enough as the silver-haired Jounin approached her the first words that came out of his mouth were, "I've decided that we are going to continue the mission despite the danger."

Sakura lowered her head, a look of worry on her face. "But Kakashi-sensei, we aren't ready for dangerous missions like this. And Sasuke needs medical attention, shouldn't we turn back?"

Kakashi shook his head. Despite Tazuna's disgusting attempt at guilt Kakashi had other reasons of his own for wanting to go on. "Sasuke is fine, his injury should be healed in a couple days with Kurenai's medical jutsu and even without that it wouldn't be fatal. He really got lucky actually, the blade missed his lungs by less then a millimeter".

Sakura shook her head, "But next time he might not be that lucky, what if we have to fight him again?"

"Then I will be there to protect you." Kakashi replied, "Last time I was hoping that Sasuke could learn something by fighting an enemy so much stronger then himself. I won't make that mistake again."

"But what if you can't help us?" asked the pink haired girl, "What if he attacks when you aren't there, or what if someone even stronger then him shows up?"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. Someone stronger then Naruto was exactly what he expected. Momochi Zabuza has been running from the Mist tracker ninja for years. He was a known murderer and he had to be stopped. Kakashi knew that he might not get another chance like this.

"Don't worry Sakura, I won't let you get into a dangerous situation like this again."

* * *

Naruto cursed under his breath. As Haku had predicted Zabuza hadn't known anything about what had happened with the nine-tails. He had been far more interested to hear the news of Sharingan Kakashi and the six Gennin. He had seemed basically unworried about the Kyuubi and like Haku, had suggested that he talked to the fox about it...so that was exactly what he was going to do.

Naruto reached his room, checked to make sure that no one else was around, and slipped inside. He walked over to the center of the room, sat down and crossed his legs. He focused his mental energies internally and slowly slipped into a trance-like state.

When he opened his eyes he was in the familiar sewer of his own mind.

* * *

RobotPirateNinja: I have an explination for this, it will hopefully all make sense next chapter.

Narutomaniac: You are right, he really should be stronger. But I have come up with an explination for this that I hope makes up for it.

Miss Finnish: Kakashi doesn't really know what to think about Naruto. On one hand he almost killed Sasuke but on the other Sasuke was actually not badly injured and he could understand Naruto's anger for what he did.

Everyone else: Thanks for your reviews and I am sorry for not killing Sasuke. But how could I kill him when there is so much more torturing to do ;)


	6. The Fox

Note: I have just reallized a bit slip up that I wrote in chapters 3 and 4. In chapter 3 Naruto recognizes Kakashi while in chapter 4 he has to ask his name. Sorry for this inconsistency. I will try to fix this soon.

* * *

Disclaimer: I DO own Naruto and I AM making money off of this...in my dreams that is.

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Chapter 6: The Fox

* * *

Naruto trudged through the grimy and wet sewer of him subconscious mind. He really hated this, going to talk with the Kyuubi. He didn't even know if the fox would tell him anything that would help and if he did, well Kyuubi was the last person he wanted to get help from anyways.

It wasn't that he was afraid of the nine-tails or anything, he just hated him. After all it was the fox that was the source of all the suffering of his early life. He supposed that it wasn't really fair to blame the fox for that. It was the prejudiced villagers that gave him so much pain.

Nonetheless as he approached the familiar rusty bars that kept the demon at bay he couldn't help but feel a slight tug of apprehension at his gut. But he had learned long ago that showing that in the fox's presence would not be wise.

"YO RABBIT EARS!" He called out, "YOU AWAKE!?"

A deep rumbling in the back of the cavern signaled the movement of something huge. After a moment two large and piercing, red eyes appeared from just behind the bars.

"**What do you want now brat?" **The nine-tails asked, his voice itself making the cavern shake.

Naruto shook his head. Even after all these years he still cringed at the feeling of malice that permeated the air whenever the demon spoke.

"You know exactly what I want rabbit ears." He spoke with a confidence that he didn't feel, "What the heck happened back a few minuets ago back when I used your chakra? Why did so much of it surge into me? And why don't I feel like hell like I usually do after using your power?"

The nine-tailed fox chuckled, creating a noise that seemed to cut through the air and into Naruto's soul, **"Once again you show a pathetic understanding of what you really are. First of all, you do not use my chakra, I allow it to increase your strength but it is I that use it."**

Naruto glared at the demon. He honestly didn't care what the fox thought about this. It wasn't why he was here.

"**As to what happened to you, I would think that painfully obvious even to a human like you but I suppose I am just overestimating you. It all has to do with the seal that that disgusting human used to seal me into your body so many years ago."**

Naruto frowned, "Stop beating around the bush rabbit ears, if you know what happened then tell me."

The Kyuubi growled, **"Don't call me that brat! I do not have rabbit ears!"** The demon paused for a moment while Naruto smirked, **"The seal that contains me was, when it was first created, divided into two parts. One of the two parts has simply dissolved that's all. So there, you have your answer now leave."**

Naruto blinked in shock. Dissolved? What did that mean!? Could the nine-tails break out of his seal? Was he in danger!? What about Zabuza and Haku?

"Hold it furry! You owe me a better explanation then that. What do you mean dissolved?"

The demon sighed, **"I suppose you aren't going to give me any piece until I explain it will you? Very well...the original seal had two parts, one that was meant to be permanent and keep me sealed away, allowing a certain amount of my power to leak out into you whenever your or your comrades lives were in danger. In other words when you are under extreme emotional stress. The other part of the seal was meant to stop the power from leaking out and was designed to naturally dissolve as you grow."**

Naruto shook his head, "I don't understand."

The Kyuubi smirked, **"I wouldn't expect you to. You see my power leaking out into you is meant to protect you if ever your life were in danger but that same power is also extremely destructive. A human's chakra coils continue to develop until they are about the age of sixteen. A mere child could not hope to use my power without damaging themselves and so the Hokage of Kanoha placed a second seal on you that would stop you from using my power until your body could contain it. You are now at the age of twelve which he considered the time at which your chakra coils have advanced enough to safely use my chakra."**

Naruto was confused, "But I've used your chakra before idiot. If this temporary seal was supposed to protect me from your chakra then why wasn't it doing it's job?"

The demon grinned at Naruto, an effect that caused the boy to sweat slightly even though he was only a mental representation of himself and not actually real, **"You over powered it," **replied the fox, **"during the time when you believed your precious adopted brother seemed to die your emotional trauma was such that you pulled my chakra straight through the seal, damaging it. Since then the damaged seal has disrupted not only my own chakra but yours as well."**

Naruto rolled his eyes, "I still don't understand fox."

The Kyuubi mimicked Naruto's rolling eyes, **"Think of it like this brat, that seal is like a dam, blocking my chakra but letting your own through. but since you damaged it, it has been blocking parts of both of our chakra. This has also incidentally slowed down your learning curve quite a bit since it has been extremely difficult for you to mold chakra. If not for the intense training of that Momochi human you would have been pathetically weak after that. Unfortunately those years of disrupted training can't be gotten back but now that the seal has dissolved and both of our chakras are unblocked you can continue learning at a much faster pace."**

Naruto nodded, "Okay...I think I understand now, so then the aching feeling that I usually get after calling on your power is because my body wasn't strong enough to handle it yet?"

Kyuubi chuckled, **"I don't believe it, the brat actually got one right, and I didn't even have to explain it at all. Perhaps you are smarter then a three year old. Indeed, though thankfully even damaged the seal was able to hold back enough of my chakra so that you weren't permanently harmed."**

Naruto grinned, "Thankfully? I didn't know you cared, fuzz butt."

The fox growled, **"Don't get cocky whelp, and don't forget that if you die then so do I."

* * *

**

Sasuke was annoyed. He walked down the path that lead to the Land of Waves. He had only been half paying attention to the old man talking about how his land was bankrupt, about how some tycoon named Gato was trying to kill him for building a bridge that could be the last hope to save his home, about how the ninjas that attacked them were assassins and that there would probably be more coming before the bridge was done.

He really didn't care. All he cared about at the moment was finding that demonic blond-haired boy and fighting him again. That was why he was walking in front, trying to speed the others up, so that they would reach their destination as soon as possible and Kakashi would be able to train him.

He would become much stronger and then, the next time they met up with Momochi Naruto, he would be the victor.

Well it wasn't exactly true that he was in front. Kiba, the damn annoying Inuzuka was doing his best to try and take the lead from him. He couldn't let that happen of course so every time the Inuzuka passed him he would increase his walking speed.

It wasn't long before the two of them were much farther up then the rest of the team.

And as such it was no surprise that none of the other Kanoha ninja heard when both of them were attacked from behind, taken out before they could even call for help.

Sakura was worried. She had ran up a few feet ahead after she had lost sight of Sasuke-kun and Kiba-kun but she couldn't find them again. She took one last look around to make sure she hadn't missed anything and turned back to the Jounin.

"Did you find them?" asked Kakashi as she approached.

Sakura shook her head, "No, I don't know what happened to them. They seemed to have disappeared."

Kakashi shook his head, "I don't like this...Kurenai!" The female Jounin turned her attention to him, "You stay here with the Gennin and Tazuna. I'm going to go and see if I can find Kiba and Sasuke." Kurenai nodded and Kakashi turned and jumped off through the trees.

* * *

Zabuza was angry. When Naruto had told him that the famous Sharingan Kakashi was with the old man he had been angry that he had been placed into a position where his two prize students might be in danger. He had no doubt that he could take on Kakashi and win but if Naruto or Haku was forced to fight without him then he wasn't sure what would happen to them.

He was also angry when Naruto had told him about the strange recent affects of the Kyuubi's power. Odds were everything would be fine, from Naruto's description it didn't sound like anything dangerous, but he hated not knowing for sure and he hated not being able to do anything to help his student.

Finally, he was angry that Gato had been so difficult to reason with. The man practically wanted something for nothing. He was not going to put his prize pupils lives in unnecessary danger for nothing, and Gato had taken so long in negotiations that he had missed his chance to meet his enemies himself and take the element of surprise. Now Naruto had mentioned his name and for someone like Kakashi he was sure that it was recognized. He wasn't angry with Naruto, but he was angry that he hadn't been there himself to oversee things.

One of the two unconscious Gennin that were slung over his shoulder twitched and he roughly jabbed him in the gut. He had been surprised to find that two of the kids had wandered off on their own but never one to look a gift horse in the mouth he had quickly knocked them out and taken them into the trees.

He smiled for the first time that day as he saw the famed Hatake Kakashi appear in the distance. He watched as Kakashi passed by the tree that he was hiding in and them stop.

Kakashi tilted his head back and spoke, "I know that you're up there, and I know that you have Sasuke and Kiba, now come down where I can see you."

Zabuza smirked and hopped down, making sure that the Sharingan user could see the two unconscious forms of his Gennin teammates slung over his shoulders. "Just as I would expect from someone of your reputation Hatake-san."

Kakashi glared at him, "Momochi Zabuza, I've heard a lot about you as well. I don't suppose you might mind giving me my student and his teammate back."

Zabuza turned his head back in the direction that the rest of the Kanoha ninja were and then tossed Sasuke onto the ground, grabbed his famed guillotine sword and positioned it's tip as Sasuke's throat.

Kakashi tensed up but Zabuza didn't move more then that, "I have to say Hatake, I really don't give a damn whether this kid lived or dies here today. As I'm sure you know, my target is the bridge builder. So I'm proposing a trade, him for the two of these brats."

Kakashi frowned, "Are you sure that you're Momochi Zabuza?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" Asked Zabuza in an increadulous voice.

Kakashi shrugged, "Well from what I have read about Momochi Zabuza he wouldn't be wasting time making deals. He would try to kill us all just for the sake of killing us and then take the bridge builder."

Zabuza frowned. That certainly did sound like him, when it came right down to it, it was a surprise that these two kids were even still alive. He slowly shook his head, "I don't have to explain myself to you Hatake."

Kakashi tilted his head away, as though in indifference, "Whatever, it doesn't matter to me."

Zabuza was about to respond when he heard a familiar sound heading toward him from behind. Faster then the normal human eye could perceive, the swordsman twisted around and knocked the approaching Kunai out of the air with his blade. The second Jounin and the rest of the Gennin had arrived.

"Kurenai," spoke Kakashi, "I thought that I told you to wait with Tazuna."

The other Jounin nodded and smirked, "Yeah but apparently Shino attached a bug to you before you left and when it came back with a message that you were in danger I thought it best that we come and help you."

Zabuza scowled in annoyance, "It doesn't matter, are you going to hand over the bridge builder or not?"

Zabuza's eyes flicked down to the comatose Gennin and a look of shock appeared on his face. The boy was gone! He looked to the other one still slung over his shoulder only to see that the Inuzuka had been replaced with a lumpy sack of what he could only assume was sand. Zabuza's eyes flicked left and right for a moment but then the obvious answer hit him and he smiled evilly.

"Not a bad genjutsu," he spoke, "But not clever enough to trick me."

Zabuza pulled his sword into the air and made a motion as if to swing it down. A look of fear appeared on Kakashi's face and he took a step foreward, lowering his guard for a half of a second as he did so.

With unbelievable speed Momochi Zabuza charged the silver-haired Jounin and slashed his sword at his enemies waist. Somewhat surprised Kakashi was only just able to get a kunai into each hand and cross them into the path of the blade.

Unfortunately this left him with nothing to defend from Zabuza's fist which slammed so hard into his chest that, if not for the protective Jounin vest, it would have surely shattered his ribs.

Kakashi went flying into a nearby tree and Zabuza smiled at his momentary victory. He had not long to celebrate though as immediately Kurenai was behind him, a kunai positioned at his neck. Zabuza just kept smiling.

* * *

Hinata rushed to the side of her fallen teammates, who had reappeared as soon as Kurenai had stopped focusing on the genjutsu, and placed her hand on the side of Kiba's head, checking for a pulse. She couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief when she found him unconscious but unharmed.

Although she had only known him for a short while Hinata had found herself strangely drawn to the rough and ragged dog-ninja. He seemed to be a complete contradiction to everything she had ever known growing up. He was brash, reckless, didn't seem to give a darn about things like manners and social status, and best of all he seemed to like her unconditionally. In all her life she had always felt as though she needed to earn affection from the people around her but this simple boy, though he could often be crude and harsh, he didn't think any less of her for what she was. She had never met someone like him before and she was certainly not going to lose him now.

Gently she nudged his shoulder and rubbed his head in an attempt to wake him.

Meanwhile, Satsu had lumbered up to the side of Uchiha Sasuke. The cruel boy smirked at the prone figure. It amused him to no end to see the same arrogant and proud Uchiha reduced to a completely helpless state. Any idiot could walk up with a knife right now and slit his neck and no stinkin bloodline was going to save him.

Satsu turned his eyes to where Hinata was attempting to kindly wake up the Inuzuka and smirked. He decided he was going to try a more direct approach. And so he swung his foot back and with as much force as he could muster, slammed it into the Uchiha's gut.

The effect was immediate. Sasuke's eyes opened wide and he began coughing violently. A small splatter of blood appeared out of his mouth. Once he had recovered enough he turned to glare angrily at his attacker who was laughing cruelly at the other boy's pain.

"C'mon Uchiha-san, Kurenai said all the Gennin have to protect the old sardine while she and the cyclops fight that sword jerk, so no laying down on the job now."

* * *

The three battling Jounin were standing in the middle of the lake. Kakashi was panting slightly, his injured rib cage making breathing far more difficult then it should be. Kurenai's nose was bleading, most likely broken from when Zabuza had elbowed her a moment ago. Zabuza himself seemed unharmed.

Kurenai attacked first, creating a genjutsu that made it seem as though vines were growing out of the ground to attack the mist swordsman.

Zabuza jumped into the air and threw a pair of shuriken at the genjutsu user, who effortlessly deflected them. However as she did so the vines stopped moving for a split second, letting Zabuza know that they weren't real. He fell back to the water, slashing through vines as he went. Although he knew that the vines were illusions, he also knew that the effect that they had on his mind could harm him.

As he landed and more vines shot up from under the water he quickly re-slung his sword over his back and made a strange, unique handseal.

"Kirigakure no jutsu." he whispered. In an instant the entire battlefield was covered in an impenetrable mist.

No longer able to direct her genjutsu Kurenai cursed and jumped back onto the dry land, allowing her illusion to dispel itself.

Zabuza dashed through the mist, making hardly any sound on the water's surface. He felt a strong wave of chakra, obviously the efforts of Hatake Kakashi to disperse the thick mist, not that it mattered.

Kakashi twisted his head around as the fog disappeared, searching for his enemy but Zabuza seemed to have vanished along with his mist.

Then a high pitched scream cut through the air and Kakashi turned his head, almost in panic, to where the six Gennin had regrouped around Tazuna. There stood Zabuza, in the very center, his sword held high above his head, more then ready to slice the bridge builder in half.

And Kakashi knew that he would never be able to make it in time to stop him.

* * *

TheUnrealInsomniac: Yeah, it was an aftermath chapter. Hopefully this one will be better.

nadini: Did I write Kahona!? That's kind of stupid of me considering that I get really annoyed when people mispell things...sorry :(

Satsu-kun: I'm sorry about that. I honestly didn't think that anyone actually had that name. Have you ever typed it into a japanese translator though? There are other words that it also means but the first three traslations are murder, kill, and butcher, so I thought that it would make sence for him.

For everyone that said Naruto should be stronger after training with Zabuza...I hope that my pathetic attempt to explain his weakness makes up for it.


	7. Satsu's Secrets

Disclaimer: I would love to own Naruto, but alas you can't have everything you want in life.

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Chapter 7: Satsu's Secrets,

* * *

The muscles in Zabuza's arm and shoulder shifted and flexed, preparing to swing his enormous blade downward onto his quarry. He knew that Sharingan Kakashi was too far away to do anything and he had taken down the other Jounin in the mist. The six Gennin surrounded him, but they were too stunned and too slow to possibly do anything about it. Tazuna himself was completely untrained and so his eyes had probably not even registered Zabuza was there yet, and even if he had he would never be able to dodge a ninja's attack. There was nothing to stop him from slicing this man in two and leaving to collect his pay.

The only thing that he didn't expect was for Tazuna to be roughly yanked back by an invisible force that sent him sprawling onto his back. Zabuza blinked in surprise when his blade found only air and stared in confusion at the spot on the ground where the bridge builder had stood a moment ago.

His moment of hesitation was all at took for Kakashi to slam his fist into the swordsman's face, knocking him back toward the lake.

A stunned Tazuna rolled onto his side, revealing a small swarm of at least a hundred insects attached to his back. Although it was impossible to see under his unusual clothes, Aburame Shino was proudly smiling at his triumph.

Zabuza stood atop the water of the lake, staring down his adversary. To his annoyance Kakashi had succeeded in raising his ninja headband, revealing his famed Sharingan eye. But it didn't matter, he was certain that he could beat this Kanoha-nin either way.

The Gennin were in shambles. Hinata had panicked when she saw her sensei laying unconscious at the lake's edge and had ran over to her. Kiba was trying to convince her to come back, telling her that Kurenai would be alright and that the most important thing now was to protect the client. Satsu simply looked amused at the chaos around him and didn't seem very intent on protecting the bridge builder. Sakura was shaking slightly but to her credit she stood her ground. Shino, the only one acting like a true ninja should, was trying his best to protect Tazuna, though he knew that if Zabuza attacked again there would be nothing he could do. The same trick would not work twice against a Jounin. Sasuke had completely forgotten about the mission and was watching the battle between the two ninja with awe.

Sasuke had never thought that he would see another Sharingan, outside of himself and...his adversary, and yet the red eye with the three tomoe was unmistakable. He couldn't help but wonder if Kakashi might have some connection to the Uchiha that he didn't know about. If so, the silver-haired Jounin might be more useful then he had originally thought.

Kakashi's taijutsu skills seemed to have made an enormous leap due to the power of the Sharingan and Zabuza was becoming annoyed. He didn't seem to be able to get a hit in. But it didn't matter, if taijutsu wouldn't work then something different must be tried.

Zabuza jumped backwards a shifted through a few handsigns, "Suiton: Water Boomerang Jutsu!"

A two-foot long blade of water appeared in Zabuza's hand, curved like a crescent moon, which he flung at his opponent.

Kakashi jumped as the blade approached and it passed harmlessly beneath him. Kakashi moved to retaliate when he heard the whistle of a blade behind him, and quickly twisted and sliced through the water blade with one of his kunai. The blade had turned in mid-air just like the boomerang that was its namesake. Zabuza smirked as he jumped into the air above his foe and created more handsigns, "Suiton: 1000 Water Boomerang Jutsu!"

Kakashi's eyes opened wide in shock as hundreds of water blades shot toward him, some flying straight downward, others curving to attack him from the sides or even behind. Kakashi's mind worked in overtime and yet he could think of only one way to dodge these blades. He knew that in doing so he would seal his fate but he had no other choice, and so he cut off the flow of chakra to his feet and sunk beneath the water.

Zabuza wasted no time, flicking through a short list of handsigns and calling out, "Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu!" In less then a moment Kakashi was trapped within an orb of water.

The Gennin, sans Satsu, couldn't help but feel their hearts gripped by fear. Sasuke in particular was disappointed at his teacher's failure. Satsu grinned and shambled up to the lake's edge, clearly unafraid of the powerful being in front of him.

"I gotta say," he shouted out, "I've seen Kakashi fight before and for anyone to stop him so easily...well you must be one strong ninja!"

From inside the dome of water Kakashi spoke, "Satsu, leave here! This man will kill you...all of you! The objective is to protect the bridge builder. Nothing else matters. Now take Kurenai and the client and leave!"

Satsu completely ignored his sensei, continuing to speak to The Demon of the Hidden Mist, "I personally don't have any interest in being taught by pathetic people. After you slit the old K's throat how 'bout _you_ train me instead?"

Zabuza's eyes betrayed a touch of shock at Satsu's words. Kakashi looked astounded. Most of the Gennin had a look of either betrayal or simply anger on their faces. The missing-nin seemed to think for a moment and then his eyes narrowed, "I have no use for students who turn against their sensei the moment they find a better one."

Satsu shrugged and began circling the lake, "But surely there can be no better sensei then you, so what have you to worry about?"

Zabuza turned his head to follow Satsu's movement, "Even if that were true it wouldn't be the point," he replied, "You clearly can't be trusted, and I don't teach people who have no respect or loyalty. Besides that you aren't good enough to be my student."

Satsu grinned, "And how do you know that? Maybe I'm better then that blonde nerd that you sent after us before."

Zabuza glared, "You are stalling for time, it won't work."

Satsu chuckled, "I'm not stalling for time...I'm looking for this!" With surprising speed, Satsu dashed out onto the lake, a kunai in either hand. Zabuza was shocked, a Gennin this new shouldn't be able to walk on water yet, what were this boy's secrets? Satsu jumped just before he reached the swordsman and swung his kunai down, only to have it effortlessly deflected by a one-handed swing from Zabuza's sword. The force of the blow sent Satsu flying into the air, but grinning, he dropped his kunai to reveal a pair of shuriken concealed beneath them. "JERKS!" He yelled out while simultaneously throwing his weapons downward, "ATTACK NOW!"

Sasuke and Shino, realized what Satsu was doing immediately and each pulled a pair of kunai and threw them at the enemy, Sakura and Kiba quickly caught on and followed suit.

Zabuza turned his head to register each of the approaching blades. Two from above and four from the side, followed immediately by four more from the side. Suddenly he realized why the Gennin brat had been circling the lake, the angle that his blades now came from made it impossible to deflect both his shuriken and the other Gennin's kunai with only one hand. He couldn't help but be impressed with the Gennin's resourcefulness. But it wouldn't be enough.

Zabuza jumped, creating a perfect arc over the water dome, and landed on the other side. Each of the blades passed harmlessly where he had been a moment before. Satsu cursed terribly as he landed. Zabuza dashed with insane speed in a circle around the water dome and slammed his fist into the partially landed Gennin's stomach. Satsu flew across the lake and vanished in a puff of smoke. A moment later one of his discarded kunai that had floated on the surface of the water shimmered and grew, transforming into the Gennin who slashed with his own, real kunai at Zabuza's arm.

But it was for naught. Faster then Satsu's eyes could see, Zabuza's foot leashed out and slammed the real Satsu across the lake.

Zabuza chuckled, "That wasn't a bad plan kid, but you don't really think that I wouldn't notice that floating kunai? Metal doesn't usually float like that."

Satsu just grinned as he gingerly raised himself from the ground, "Well gee, I guess you outsmarted me huh?"

Suddenly an explosion tore out from Zabuza's feet, forcing the Jounin to jump backwards and release his hold on Kakashi's water prison.

Satsu grinned as he replayed his entire plan in his mind. After being rejected (no one had to know that his offer was a legitimate one), he had circled the lake until he was at the optimum angle so that Zabuza wouldn't be able to block all the attacks at once and dashed at him across the water, one of the many aces that he had up his sleeve that even the Kanoha instructors didn't know about. He had attacked in a way that would cause Zabuza to push him into the air and then discarded his kunai and tossed his remaining shuriken blades at Zabuza, calling for his teammates to do the same. While Zabuza's eyes were turned for a split second to register the blades coming from the Gennin on the land he created a bunshin and henged himself into a kunai, pretending to be one of the ones that he had discarded into the lake. When Zabuza predictably dodged the blades and turned back to attack the bunshin Satsu released his henge and attacked Zabuza's arm. Zabuza had of course seen through his ruse and quickly attacked the Gennin, but in his speed he hadn't seen Satsu's true purpose. The exploding tag that he had attached to his stomach and that had transferred to the bottom of Zabuza's foot when he kicked the Gennin. It had all worked perfectly and now the Jounin Kakashi was free.

Kakashi smiled as he locked one of his kunai blades with Zabuza's sword. "That was a remarkable plan for a Gennin Satsu," he said, "I admit I was worried when you requested Zabuza to be your sensei. But when this is over we are going to have a long talk about where exactly you learned water-walking."

Satsu rolled his eyes, "Sure, whatever you say K man." he replied before running back to the rest of the Gennin.

Sasuke smirked at him, "That was pretty impressive Rokujou, maybe you aren't completely useless after all."

Satsu smirked right back, "I'll tell you a secret Uchiha, I threw the final exams to make sure that I was the lowest score in class. I wanted to be paired with the rookie of the year so that I wouldn't have such useless teammates." he seemed to think for a moment and then added, "Oh, and also because I knew that your angsty butt would be rookie of the year and you are just so stinkin' fun to torment." His smirk morphed into a sadistic grin.

Sakura glared at him, "You jerk, don't talk to Sasuke-kun like that."

Satsu turned his eyes to her and glared. A surprising amount of killing intent was released for only half a moment before Satsu composed himself. But Sakura had felt it and it sent a shiver up her spine. "Don't forget banshee," he replied, "You aren't as valuable to me. Be careful you don't one day wake up to find a knife at your little throat. Cuz I sure as heck ain't gonna save your fat tush."

Zabuza glared down his enemy, somewhat shaken by the Gennin's success but unharmed and ready to fight. Kakashi seemed unaffected by his glare, his Sharingan simply staring right back into Zabuza's eyes.

After a moment of locked blades the two ninja pushed back against each other and flew back, landing only a few feet away from each other on the water. Both quickly started making handsigns. It took a moment for Zabuza to realize that Kakashi's handsigns were identical to his own but when he did his eyes narrowed in angered suspiscion. After a moment they each, in perfect synchronization, called out, "Suiryuudan no jutsu!"

Two large snakelike water dragons rose out of the lake, circling each other for a moment before striking at each other, each latching onto the other's neck. Zabuza's face betrayed no emotion but he couldn't help but be shocked at the speed of the Sharingan. He could have sworn that their handsigns were coming at the same time. How could Kakashi have copied his movements fast enough to use the technique at the exact same moment that he himself had?

Suddenly and without warning, the dragons were no longer equal. Kakashi's creation grew to an extreme size, easily dwarfing the apposing dragon. Totally shocked, Zabuza lost his concentration on his own dragon and the water creature dissolved, allowing the larger dragon to strike at him. The water slammed into him and sent him flying into the trees near the lake.

Zabuza slowly shook his head to clear his mind from it's recent pounding and then felt a burning pain in his arms and side. Four kunai pinned him to the tree that he had rested against. Immediately Kakashi and Kurenai appeared on the branches above, the female Jounin clutching her head as though she had some sort of migrain.

Suddenly it was all clear and Zabuza began to laugh. The water dragon growing was only a Genjutsu. He had been tricked. "Well, well...that was some impressive Sharingan manipulation Kakashi, I assume you had hypnotized me to use an attack that you had already copied some time ago in an attempt to scare me?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Did it work?" he asked lazily.

Zabuza laughed in response, "You might say that, alright I admit defeat this time, but I warn you, that bridge builder WILL die. If not by my hind then by the hands of my stude-huh!"

Kakashi blinked in shock as two needles appeared in Zabuza's neck, causing the Jounin to keel over, his eyes still open but unmoving. The two Kanoha Jounin turned to a new figure in a white mask, who was looking over the prone figure of the ex mist-ninja with an aura of contempt. After a moment of stunned silence Kakashi jumped down from his perch and placed his fingers to Zabuza's neck.

"He's dead..." announced the silver-haired Jounin.

The new figure nodded, "Yes, and I thank you for distracting him long enough to give me an opening to do that. I am a hunter ninja that has been sent from the village hidden in the mist to capture this fugative."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, "I see, and I suppose now you are going to destroy the body so as to prevent the secrets of your village from getting out?"

The hunter nodded, "Yes, I need to take the body away now to dispose of it safely."

Kakashi turned to the dead Jounin and shook his head. His eyes held a slight glimpse of suspiscion "Dispose of it here," he replied, "I would like for my students to see this. It will be a good experience for their training."

From behind the mask Haku began to sweat, trying to think of a reason as to why he couldn't do his supposed job right here and now. Thankfully Haku had always been a quick thinker, "Unfortunately no," he replied cooly, "My methods are in and of themselves a village secret. I can not have any of you witness it."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, his suspiscion deepening. However he could think of no way that he could question the hunter further without accusing him of treachery and if he were mistaken that could lead to complications with the mist village. For now he had to let the hunter go. "Very well...take him away if you must, we will continue to escort our charge to his intended destination."

Haku nodded and grabbed onto Zabuza before disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

TUI: Naruto will be the main focus of the next chapter, and Sasuke's Sharingan is overrated...well maybe not but if it couldn't help against Rock Lee when he was stronger then he was now, then I doubt it would help against Zabuza.

Arch Zell: Still? I thought that I had mostly gotten rid of those!...darn.

Fury Cutter: Thanks for the review and I will take your suggestions into consideration :) I like them.

RobotPirateNinja: To a point yes. Naruto's body is very much advanced compared to most anyone elses his age, but if you take into consideration the most recent chapters (with the toads) it implies that your chakra control also affects your speed and strength. Naruto's reflexes are way higher then they should be compared to the rest of him.

narusakufan36: Good things come to those who wait. It will begin happening before the Wave arc is over.

jstrife: Naruto will compete in the Chunnin exams, and he will eventually become a Kanoha ninja, but he will not become a Kanoha ninja _for_ the Chunnin exams. It will happen much later, probably after the time-skip. Garra and Jiraiya will both be central to the plot of the story (Garra especially will have a much more important part then in the actual story), and the Sakura/Naruto will start soon (though it will be a somewhat drawn out thing).


	8. Wrath of a Fox

First off, I would like to say that I am very, very sorry for the delay. My Computer got a virus (a very, very nasty one) and I have only now been able to retrieve my stories from it and place it on another computor. Another chapter should be up by the end of the week.

* * *

Disclaimer: If you have not yet realized that I don't own Naruto, I pity you.

* * *

Chapter 8: Wrath of a Fox,

* * *

Naruto paced back and forth, his face contorted in rage. Every few seconds he would kick at something, usually destroying whatever it was in the process. Haku sat on the ground in the corner of his room, a cup of tea in his hand and a patient look on his face as he waited out Naruto's tantrum.

"I should have been there!" the blonde-haired boy yelled in fury, "I should have been there taking care of the damn Gennin! Why the hell didn't you wake me up!? I could have stopped this!"

Haku sighed and placed his tea cup on a nearby table (the only one that hadn't been smashed by Naruto's rage). "Naruto, Zabuza-sensei decided not to wake you up because he thought that you needed your talk with the fox."

Naruto grabbed a chair and threw it at the wall, shattering it, "It doesn't matter!" he yelled, "I don't care what it means to me, Zabuza-sensei's business comes first, and yours." He seemed to calm down slightly. Though he was still fuming.

Haku raised to his feet and walked over to his foster brother. "Naruto, you shouldn't feel bad about this, it was no fault of yours that this happened." he smiled and placed his hand on Naruto's. The blond boy shrugged it off. Haku sighed, "You know it isn't as though we have failed yet. Zabuza-sama will recover and we will try again. You will have your chance to aid then."

Naruto dipped his head in defeat, "Yeah...whatever." he answered before turning to the door.

A moment before he walked out Haku spoke again in a cautious voice, "Where are you going?"

Naruto turned his head to look at Haku's face. He recognized the doubt and worry in his face. Haku knew him far too well. "Why do you want to know?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"Just...promise me you won't do anything rash...okay otouto." Haku spoke slowly and deliberately.

Naruto grinned, "Don't worry Haku, I just want to make a few new friends." He walked out the door and closed it behind him.

Kakashi, Kurenai and their teams sat with Tazuna and his family, his daughter and grandson, a kind and simple lady named Tsunami and a quiet boy named Inari. Kiba wasn't sure what he thought of the boy, who hadn't said a word since they had arrived but whom seemed to be glaring at them from under his hat.

The adults were talking about something political or economic or something along those lines, things that Kiba didn't really have any care for. As best he understood it, this Gato creep had majorly screwed over the land of waves and they were supposed to take him out. That was all he needed to know.

The dog ninja turned back to Inari and, noticing that the boy was still glaring at him, began to glare back. Well turn about was fair game after all. Inari simply glared harder, which of course led to Kiba glaring harder, and back and forth until something had to happen.

Kiba was the one who bursted first, "All right ya little pipsqueak!" he yelled out. Every head in the room turned to stare at Kiba's sudden outbreak. The dog ninja ignored them. "Who the heck do you think your glaring at!? I'da thought that you'd be grateful considering we just saved your grandaddies ass!"

Inari stood up, tears running down his face. Kiba was slightly taken aback. He was annoyed but he didn't mean to make the kid cry. Inari opened his mouth as if to speak and then closed it again. His eyes shifted to each of the ninja in turn and then to his grandfather and mother, and finally back to Kiba. He opened and closed his mouth a few more times, thinking of the right words to express what he wanted to say, before he finally spoke.

"You...you don't get it do you!? All you so-called ninja! None of you understand!" He turned and ran to the doorway that lead to his room. A moment before he reached it he stopped, "You are all going to die...there is no way you can win against Gato...if you don't want to die then you should just leave." And he left.

Kiba snorted, "Who does that brat think he is. There's no way some cat-man is going to stop me! I'll take anything this Gato throws at me!"

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "I'm glad you feel that way Kiba, because odds are very good that Momochi Zabuza is still very much alive."

Kiba fell off his chair and onto his face.

* * *

Kakashi and Kurenai walked side by side through the woods, their six Gennin students following a few feet behind.

"A hunter-ninja," Kurenai explained, "is not supposed to wait for anything. Once their target has been terminated they are meant to destroy the body immediately. This ninja did not do that."

"But Kurenai-sensei," Sakura asked, "didn't the hunter-ninja explain that his methods were secrets of his village?"

Kakashi answered, "That is extremely unlikely. The hunter-nin only needed to destroy the body, and a simple fire would have sufficed for that. It is possible that he needed to retrieve something from Zabuza's body before destroying it, but if so why did he state such an obvious lie?"

Kurenai spoke again, "We must also consider the weapon used to kill Zabuza, simple senbon needles. Useful weapons for a variety of purposes but unless a major vital organ was struck, such as the heart, they would not be fatal, and even then the death would not have been instantaneous as it seemed to be."

Shino nodded, "However it would have been easy for someone who is both a master acupuncturist and a skilled ninja to use those needles to stimulate a death-like state."

Kiba gave him an odd look, "Since when are you so knowledgeable?" he asked.

Shino shrugged, "Acupuncture is one of the methods that my clan uses to prepare our bodies for our insects."

Kakashi nodded, "Shino is correct. Considering both of these facts, both Kurenai and I both agree that the hunter-nin's true purpose was not to kill Momochi Zabuza, but to save him."

Kurenai nodded in agreement, "It is even possible that the hunter-nin was the same blonde-haired boy from before in disguise."

Sasuke spoke up, "So then what are we supposed to do?" he asked, "You and Kurenai should be able to stop him again. This shouldn't be a problem."

Kakashi shook his head, "Even if we were to be able to defeat Zabuza a second time, we don't know the strength of Naruto, and we also don't know who else he might have aiding him."

Kiba grinned, "Sounds great! I've been achin' for a good brawl!"

Kurenai smiled, "Which is why we are going to be training out here, until Zabuza returns."

Satsu, who had simply been staring out at the birds, finally drew his attention to the matter at hand, "What sort of training you got in mind?"

Kakashi smiled, "Considering what you did back at the lake I don't think that you need this. What we are going to be doing is climbing a tree."

* * *

Sakura stood in front of her tree with a slight glare on her face. Her mind had wandered back to her unsavory teammate Satsu. While Kakashi-sensei had been explaining the tree-climbing exercise the jerk had calmly walked up to the tip of the tallest tree...walking backwards. She remembered how he had threatened her after he had tricked Zabuza, and she remembered how he had seemed so excited at the thought of Sasuke being killed by Naruto and her anger grew.

"HAY PINKY!" she heard him call out from above, "HOPE THIS ISN'T TOO DIFFICULT FOR YA! I'D HATE TO THINK THAT MY TEAMMATE IS SO PATHETIC SHE CAN'T EVEN CLIMB A SIMPLE TREE!"

Sakura gritted her teeth, took a step back, and charged at the tree. She grinned as she felt herself rising up off the ground...three feet...five feet...ten feet...and fell. Sakura frowned as she heard Satsu's cackling laughter. She could hear him yell out "pathetic!" and, "Useless.". Furious, she dashed up the tree again, and this time made it up an even shorter distance before falling.

She couldn't think straight. All she could see when she closed her eyes was Satsu's cruel and disgusting face. All she could hear was Satsu's laughter and callous words. She couldn't concentrate, she couldn't focus. She felt weak, useless, it was a horrible feeling.

Angrily she dashed up the tree again, this time barely making it five feet off the ground before losing her grip. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the impact...but it never had caught her wrist, preventing her fall.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, half expecting to see Kakashi-sensei, or even Sasuke. She was sure that this exercise would be easy for him. What she never expected to see was the blond-haired boy from before, Naruto, to be standing above her, a kind smile on his face.

She blinked in surprise and slowly looked around the rest of the clearing. No one else was watching. Satsu had switched his attention to Hinata, who was nearly in tears both due to her inability to stick her feet to the tree and Satsu's cruel words. Kurenai and Kakashi were attempting to comfort her and at the same time find a way to motivate her. Sasuke was totally wrapped up in his own exercise. Shino and Kiba were competing to see who could reach the top of the tree first.

She flicked her eyes back to Naruto. She wanted to call out, to alert Kakashi-sensei or Kurenai-sensei. She tried to yell, but her voice caught in her throat. As though he could read her mind he lifted his free hand to his mouth and pressed his finger to his lips, miming shushing her, and winked.

Winked? Why would he do that? He was the enemy right? What was it that he wanted, she wanted to ask him. She wanted to understand him, but she just didn't seem to be able to.

Naruto flicked his eyes around the field and then back to Sakura. He grinned. She titled her head to the side. Why was he acting so...nice!? This didn't make any sense.

Finally she found her voice, "What are you doing here?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper, as though she was doing something taboo. She supposed she was in a way.

He spoke in the same whispering voice, "You have a lot of talent. You just need to stop letting him get to you. Your anger is inhibiting you. You need to be able to concentrate on what you are doing. You can make it up this tree, you know you can."

She blinked, her eyes full of doubt. He gave her a patient smile, "Would you trust me with something as simple as not letting you fall?" he asked.

She was floored. He was asking her if she could _**trust**_ him!? She should be alerting Kakashi! He should be trying to kill her not help her! This was wrong. This picture just didn't add up. Why hadn't she called out yet? What was stopping her? What was wrong with her!? AND WHY IN HELL WAS HER FACE SO HOT!?

She realized to her absolute horror that she had already nodded. He smiled and began walking backwards. She walked with him up the tree. Her feet connected to the wood, not slipping, not stumbling. She was doing it. Somehow, he had given her the confidence to do it.

They reached one of the top branches and he gently lifted her onto it. Her chest was heaving. This was unnatural, she shouldn't, couldn't, be doing this. Why wasn't she calling out? What was wrong with her?

He spoke again. "You see? You can do it, just like I said." Her eyes flicked to his, questions gleaming in their jade depths. He smiled as he picked up on what she was wondering, "I didn't help you at all. I was only there, just in case. You walked up the tree all on your own."

His eyes shot to where Satsu was sitting, smug as a peacock, on a tree branch of similar height to the one they were on. "Now I hope you won't be too upset if I excuse myself for a moment, I did come here for a reason."

Her eyes opened wide in shock as she saw his hand settle on the handle of his katana. Before she could say anything he kicked off from the branch, flying at an insane speed toward her teammate. She opened her mouth to call out a warning, but even if she had enough time to say anything she wasn't sure she would have been able to.

It quickly became pandemonium. Naruto had been stopped before he ever reached Satsu, Kakashi had caught him in midair, the Jounin's fist slammed into the boys gut. Immediately Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke and a second Naruto flew toward Satsu from a different direction.

This time the blade found it's mark, the branch that Satsu rested on. He sliced clean through it, sending the Gennin bully sprawling to the ground. The second Naruto was quickly taken out by a kunai that flew from the hand of a shocked looking Kakashi. This one also disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi twisted his head around, searching for where the real boy was. "Show yourself!" he called out, his normally lackadaisical voice suddenly alert.

At the Jounin's words, a third Naruto appeared from the shadows. "Don't give yourself a heart attack Kakashi-san." he said, "I'm not actually here. Just a few of my clones. You don't think I'd be dumb enough to actually walk into an enemy camp myself do you?"

Kakashi pulled out a pair of kunai. Naruto shook his head, "I don't have any intention of fighting you. I just figured that if you wouldn't talk to me like I asked last time then I would just watch you for a while."

Kakashi glared at him, "You think that we would let you do that?"

Naruto grinned and shrugged, "Try and stop me if you want. Though that would seem to be a pretty big disruption when you could be spending time helping your students. I can just keep sending clones for as long as I want."

Kakashi continued to glare at the blond boy, but before he could reply, a brown streak dashed up to Naruto. Before anyone could react, Naruto backhanded the attacking Satsu into a nearby tree.

The tension in the air could be cut with a knife. Sakura was holding her breath, as were Shino and Kiba. Kakashi and Kurenai looked ready to pounce at a moments notice. Sasuke was glaring at Naruto with a hatred so intense that his eyes nearly burned red. Naruto slowly turned his head to look at the downed Satsu.

"I did want to talk to you." he said. "I hear that you were able to get one over on my sensei yesterday. I just wanted to make sure that you didn't actually think that you were in any way better then him." He smiled pleasantly, as though he were speaking to a close friend, "After all, even a mouse can get lucky against a tiger once in a while."

Satsu smiled a cheesy smile at him and nodded, "Of course Naruto-san, but I couldn't just let my own beloved sensei die could I? I knew it was a long shot but I had to try." A trickle of sweat ran down Satsu's forehead.

Naruto rolled his eyes. He had never heard such a lousy pile of crap in his life. The Gennin was obviously terrified and desperate to save his own ass. But he could play along too.

"Okay good, I just wanted to make sure that you understood that. And just to make sure you don't forget..." Naruto nudged his foot under Satsu's prone figure and with a lighting fast movement he flipped him into the air, before slamming his knee into the boy's gut.

Satsu didn't even have the eyes too see exactly what Naruto had done. All he registered was a sudden searing pain in his gut before his body slammed into a tree, transforming said tree into splinters. He twisted his head up, his vision shrouded with pain induced tears. His head was ringing but that didn't stop his from hearing Naruto's voice quite clearly as he spoke with the tiniest lacing of fury, "Just so you know, Zabuza-sama is ten times stronger then I am, and I am ten times stronger then you." His voice was suddenly jovial again, "So don't be getting a big head alright!"

Sakura was hyperventilating. She didn't understand this boy at all. His very presence seemed to make her emotions shift faster then a ninja using a henge. First she was terrified, then a moment later she was grateful and fascinated. When he attacked Satsu she had felt a strange mixture of worry and excitement. Not worry for Satsu, that jerk could go to hell as far as she was concerned, she shocked herself when she found that she was worried that Kakashi-sensei would kill Naruto. When the first clone had been hit she had blanched. She had let out a sigh of relief when he had proven to be alright.

Sasuke's thought were much more organized. He felt a blind fury at this presumptuous boy who thought himself so much better then them. In the back of his head he knew that the real reason he was angry was because Naruto had humiliated him and had spoken of something that he had tried so hard to suppress, but in his rage he couldn't bring himself to think logically. He needed to beat this boy, and prove to himself and everyone else that he, as an Uchiha, has superior to this punk.

The punk in question turned his head to smile at Sasuke, though behind his smile he had another, undecipherable look, "I also wanted to apologize to you Uchiha-san. Sometimes I have a bit of a problem with my temper but that is no excuse to nearly kill you like I did. I will save that for I am on the job and have no other choice."

Sasuke's eye began twitching. This guy was PATRONIZING him! He had never been quite so furious in his entire life. He attacked.

Sasuke propelled himself off of the branch of the tree he had been standing in, much in the same way Naruto had done when he had attacked Satsu, and drew a pair of kunai.

Kakashi and Kurenai realized what was about to happen a moment before it did, but were too far away to do anything about it. Naruto's sword was drawn before Sasuke had crossed half the distance between them. With unreal speed his blade flicked out twice, the first time knocking both kunai out of the Uchiha's hands, the second time knocking him out of the air and onto his back at Naruto's feet.

Naruto pressed the tip of his sword into Sasuke's neck with just enough pressure to draw a tiny drop of blood. The Jounin froze, relieved that Naruto had only hit Sasuke with the flat of his blade but also worried with the knowledge that if he suddenly decided to kill the Uchiha boy there would be nothing that they could do about it.

Naruto was smiling devilishly at him, "Oh come on Uchiha-teme, you're supposed to be better then this. I would have expected so much more." Sasuke glared at him but he continued, "You are going to have to become a whole world stronger if you are going to try and beat me, and I hope that you work really hard at it." His face raised and twisted around. He was now addressing all of the Kanoha ninja, "Because as soon as Zabuza makes a full recovery...we are coming back. All of us."

The clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

* * *

It had been three days since Naruto's threat/warning in the training area. Kiba had had a few more fights with Inari but otherwise little had happened with the people of the land of waves. They had learned a few more things about what was happening in the economy and why they were so desperate to stop Gato.

Each of the Gennin were training as hard as they possibly could, always in groups where at least one of the Jounin were with them. Sasuke had convinced Kakashi to spend nearly every minute of the day training him one on one. Naruto's words had affected him deeply and he had thrown himself into his training like never before. He could feel himself improving at a much faster pace then ever before. Even his teammates had seen the tangible difference between his strength at the end of every day.

Hinata had become more and more depressed every moment, believing that she was useless and a liability to the team, a feeling that Satsu did nothing to help assuage. Kurenai and Kiba both attempted to help her out but neither made much headway. Shino kept to himself and trained with his insects.

Sakura was getting restless. She had tried tagging along with Kakashi and Sasuke but they had been so wrapped up in their own personal training that she had felt like a nuisance and decided not to go with them again. Kurenai had offered her to come train with her team but Sakura had quickly realized that she was again just being a hindrance. She wouldn't train with Satsu if she had no other choice.

And so she had taken to sneaking off on her own to practice in the woods.

Sakura stood alone in the center of a large clearing. She held four shuriken in each hand, one in between each finger, and her face held a look of determination. She pulled her arms into an X shape over her chest and flung the shuriken at a nearby tree.

She frowned at herself when she saw that none of the weapons had reached their marks. She had tried to slice through the leaves on the tree's branches, but each of the leaves that she had marked in her vision was still quite whole. This had been her eighth attempt.

"Those flew very well." spoke a feminine voice from behind her.

Sakura swivelled around to see a girl in a long pink kimono and smooth black hair. She was shockingly pretty, and Sakura found herself slightly jealous.

"I'm sorry," she continued, "I didn't mean to interrupt. I had just come out here to gather a few medicinal herbs, I didn't expect to find anyone else."

Sakura nodded, "That's alright, I wasn't making much progress anyways."

The girl twisted her head in confusion, "I have been watching you for a little while, and I have to ask, what is causing you to try so hard?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean?"

The girl in the pink kimono smiled as she answered, "Well you have been training at least the last hour or so that I have been here, probably longer. You were sweating. You were cursing. You never took even a moments break. I have rarely seen anyone work so hard at improving themselves."

Sakura didn't answer. She simply continued to look confused.

"I know that you are a ninja, that much is obvious, and of the few ninja's I have seen in my lifetime I have seen some more talented but rarely one who has worked so hard at improving their talents."

Sakura frowned as she turned back to the tree, "It is a long story."

The girl sat on the ground, "I have plenty of time, and it is always nice to meet an interesting stranger."

Sakura thought for a moment, took a deep breath and sat down in front of the girl, "My name is Haruno Sakura." she spoke.

The girl smiled and nodded, "You may call me Haku." She produced a tea kettle from a bag that was slung over her back and placed it between the two. She poured a small canteen of water into the kettle and started a fire underneath.

"So then Haruno Sakura, what is your story?"

Sakura shrugged, "I am a ninja just like you said, and I am currently on a mission. My first really dangerous mission actually."

Haku nodded, "That sounds interesting. And I can understand why fear would motivate you to try and become stronger."

Sakura shook her head, "That isn't it. That isn't why I am doing this." Haku gave her a look that seemed to ask her to continue, "Well you see, one of the members of my team is someone who I am...very fond of."

"And you wish to impress him," Haku interrupted, "by becoming stronger and showing off your strength." It wasn't a question.

Sakura nodded, "He was the rookie of the year of our village and everyone in the village loves him. He is the coolest and strongest guy in the..." She let her voice fade into nothingness. She was about to say that Sasuke was the strongest guy in the world but unfortunately that illusion had been shattered only a few days ago.

Haku nodded. She seemed to understand what Sakura had been trying to say. However she looked slightly confused, "And you don't feel that he will care about you unless you are strong?"

Sakura blinked in confusion herself, "Well, I have tried everything else I can to get his attention." She spoke as if what she was saying was the most obvious thing in the world, "I grew my hair out because they say that is what he likes, I have tried to show him my intelligence, I had the second highest score on the written test in my ninja exam, but he still completely ignores me. I know that he cares about strength, so that is what I am going for."

Haku's look was now reprimanding, "Well that doesn't sound like the type of person who you should be pining after."

Sakura was now angry, "Don't you dare talk about Sasuke like that! He is the greatest guy in the worl-"

Haku interrupted by raising her hand to cut Sakura off, "And yet," he continued, "He ignores you completely even though you are a very beautiful girl. Even though you are nice enough sit down with a total stranger and regale him with such an interesting tale. If he won't love you for yourself, if you have to turn yourself into something else for him, then is he worth your time and effort?"

Sakura only glared at her.

Haku shrugged, "Fine. It is your life not mine. I would re-consider though." she thought for a moment and twisted her head to the trees, "If you truly desire strength, then it will come to you."

She poured Sakura a small cup of tea and began sipping her own. Sakura looked down at the plain, clay cup in her hands and the pale green liquid inside and took a sip. The drink was surprisingly good, though she didn't recognize whatever it was that flavored it.

Haku smiled, "You can become more skilled through training and pushing yourself to the extremes, but true strength has nothing to do with that."

Sakura frowned, "I don't understand." she replied truthfully, "What would you know about it?"

Haku smiled, "I have had a decent few experiences with ninja myself, and the one thing that I have learned without a doubt is that true strength comes not from training or anger. True strength comes from your heart."

Sakura smiled and she dropped her head. This all sounded very nice but it didn't seem very practical.

Haku recognized her doubts, "When you are fighting for yourself then you are fighting within your own limitations. It is only when you are fighting for something that you truly love can you overcome unbeatable odds. When you are fighting for the things most precious to you, that is when you will find true srength."

Sakura blinked in surprise. She didn't really expect something quite so profound.

"That is when you will know who it is that you truly love."

Haku stood up and smiled at her, "You will see." she bowed slightly and began walking away, "Thank you for sharing so much with this young man. It is always nice to meet such an interesting stranger." And he walked away, back into the woods.

Sakura sat for what felt like hours contemplating what Haku had said before something that she had said clicked into her head.

"YOUNG MAN?!"

* * *

Zettai Eniguma: Thank you for your insightful review. Just trust me. Nartuo will be a Gennin of a different villiage. Not Kanoha, a different one. Won't tell which yet. Thanks for your praise about my interpretation of Naruto's character. I think that he is quite a bit more insightful in my version, but I did not want to go with a dark Naruto. I think that he is a great character as is and I did not want to mess with that too much.

Starfire201: I am sure that they would get along famously :)

Fury Cutter: Yes I know...I will try to catch that in the future. As for Satsu, he has a couple tricks up his sleeve but him tricking Zabuza had more to do with luck and Zabuza underestimating him then with skill.

ares88: Yes I did have to add a sadistic bastard :P The great thing about sadistic bastards is that when they die, no one cries, so if he ever becomes nessisary to kill, I can do so without anyone getting that upset about it.

Everyone else: Thanks for reviewing, I hope you all know that it means a lot to me.


	9. Training with Konoha

So I was off by one day on the whole, "end of the week thing". Sorry bout that.

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Disclaimer: I like pie, I like cake better, but I like ice cream best of all. Oh and I also don't own Naruto.

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**Chapter 9, Training with Konoha,**

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Naruto sighed as he watched the three Gennin from the trees. He was certain that the scarlet eyed Jounin had discovered him, but he was glad that the Gennin were not quite as perceptive. He wanted to watch them without any obstructions. He didn't want them to act any differently then they ordinarily would because of his presence. He had made a few observations about these three. The Inuzuka had an enormous amount of potential, he worked hard, he had the guts, he pushed himself until his hands bled, and he was talented. Naruto was very impressed. His major weakness would be his temper (something that Naruto shared with him). He was also gruff and rough and almost brutally honest. Naruto liked him, he could see himself being friends with him if they had met under different circumstances.

The little Hyuuga girl was not quite so skilled. She slipped up a lot and it always made her flustered, at which point she would slip up more. She wasn't bad, but she had a serious problem with her confidence. Naruto suspected that if she could get over that, she would be a force to be reckoned with. Her Jounin-sensei tried to comfort her, and the Inuzuka looked like he desperately wanted to as well, though he wasn't sure how to go about doing it. The bug boy just ignored her as well as everyone else. Naruto felt sort of sorry for her. She seemed very, very nice.

The Aburame was more skilled then either, but not as hard working. It would not be long before the Inuzuka passed him by unless someone could light a fire under him. He was quite, kept to himself, but not out of shyness like his lavender-haired teammate, he just preferred to talk to his bugs (or at least that is what it looked like to Naruto). The guy was odd, no doubt about that.

Naruto all in all was very impressed with team. They each had a whole lot of potential, and he generally liked them all (even the bug boy). They were interesting.

He looked down to where Kiba and Hinata were training in Taijutsu. Kiba was going light on her, but the fight was still somewhat mismatched. Naruto sighed. He hated just watching like this, it wasn't in his nature. Zabuza had ordered him to only observe and not interfere. But sitting in a tree and just watching was not something that Naruto was capable of doing. And Kurenai was currently distracted speaking to the Aburame. There was nothing stopping him. Zabuza-sama really should have known better.

Naruto moved, catapulting himself into the air. He landed directly in-between the two training Gennin, just as they both were moving to attack each other. Neither attack reached their target, Naruto deflected them both and, with a simply twist of his arms, sent both Gennin sprawling to the ground. Naruto began laughing.

Instantly and predictably, Kurenai was behind him, a kunai at his neck. Naruto stopped laughing, though continued to grin. "Hey Jounin-san" he spoke in a completely calm and composed voice, as though he were greeting an old friend as apposed to someone who had a blade at his neck, "Nice to see you again. I just thought I would take a moment and play with your students."

Kurenai glared at him but didn't move.

Naruto chuckled, "Well if you don't mind I would very much like it if you would take this kunai off of my neck." With shocking speed he reached up and grabbed onto the Jounin's arm and began pulling it away. Kurenai may have been more skilled in every way, but Naruto was physically the stronger, and so to the shock of everyone the blade slowly moved away from his neck. When it had reached a safe distance Naruto ducked his head down and slipped out from underneath it.

Kurenai glared at him, "What do you want, punk?" she asked with contempt in her voice.

Naruto shrugged, "Like I said, I wanted to play with your students for a while." He placed right hand over his heart and lifted his left into the air, "Don't worry, I swear to Kami I wont break them."

Kurenai readied her kunai again, "And why on earth should I let you do that?" she asked.

Naruto was grinning "Because you are one person trying to teach three and I could be a big help with that, and also because I have a whole lot of experience and I could really help them."

"What motive could you possibly have for that?" The Jounin asked, "We are your enemies."

Naruto never stopped grinning, "Well because it would be fun, and because I like these guys." he gestured to the two confused Gennin on the ground, "And we are only enemies by circumstance after all and I would like for them to be as strong as possible after this is all over so that they will be better prepared for future dangers." He chuckled again, "Besides, no matter how much they improve in the short amount of time they have, they won't be strong enough to stop us when my sensei has recovered." Suddenly his face turned grave, though he did not elaborate further.

Kurenai scoffed, "And why should I believe you?"

Naruro shrugged, "I don't care if you believe me or not. I just thought that I could help you out a bit."

"Well you can't, so get out or I will make you get out."

Naruto rolled his eyes, but locked his hands into a hand seal and shun-shined out.

* * *

Naruto cursed as he walked through the woods. He had had similar results with the two Sharingan users. Not only had Kakahsi killed the clone that he had used to watch them, but by the time another clone reached their training spot, they had left. Naruto has searched for them for another few minuets but they seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Wherever they were training, Naruto had not been able to find them. He wouldn't aid Satsu if he had no other choice (and besides, the jerk didn't seem to be into training at all. Apparently he didn't feel very threatened by Naruto's display).

And so he was following the same path that Haku had the day before, searching for the pink-haired girl that he hoped would be there. He debated what he would say as to hopefully not scare her. He didn't want to do that.

He reached the clearing faster then he expected and jumped into a nearby tree. Sakura, as he had hoped, was there, shadow boxing now. He sighed as he watched her pathetic attempts at improving herself. He admired the desire, but he knew from experience that without someone or something to show you what to do, no matter how hard you tried, you could never improve very much. She needed someone to train with, and he was going to give her just that.

Naruto shun-shined behind her and placed his hands over her wrists. He rested his head on her shoulder and smiled as he watched her eyes open wide in shock and fear. "Your stance is too high" he whispered into her ear, "Place your legs farther apart and bend your knees a little more. It will give you more stability."

Sakura's breathing was heavy with a mixture of fear and excitement. "Wha-what are you doing here?" she asked.

Naruto smiled kindly at her, "I wanted to help you. You obviously cannot train with your sensei and the Uchiha, and I doubt anyone would tolerate that brown haired freak, so I thought I would give you a few pointers."

Sakura twisted around, finding herself face to face with the blond boy. "Why...why should I train with you? You are the bad guy aren't you?"

Naruto frowned, "I helped you before didn't I? You can trust me. I promise that I will not harm you." Sakura looked doubtful. Naruto smiled as warmly as he could and continued, "Please trust me Sakura-san, I promise that, until my mission requires me too, I will not allow anything to harm you."

Sakura shook in fear as she thought what he said over. She didn't really trust him, despite what he had done earlier, honestly she knew that it would be a stupid thing to agree to train with him. But on the other hand if she declined his offer, she seriously doubted that he would just go and let her continue on her own. There was no Jounin around to drive him away now, and she certainly wasn't strong enough. She had to placate him. Against her better judgement, she nodded.

Naruto smiled at her and she dropped into a fighting stance, making sure to position her legs as he had suggested.

Naruto allowed Sakura to attack first. She swung her fist in an uppercut toward Naruto's jaw. He grabbed her fist and with a gentle nudge, sent her sprawling onto her back. Naruto sighed.

"Don't just try for the strongest attacks, Sakura-san. They are all too often easily deflected. For a ninja, faster is better."

Sakura looked ashamed for a moment, but nodded and readied herself again.

The mock fight continued in the same general manner for the next few minutes. Naruto was never even close to being touched. His eyes watched Sakura almost as if she were moving in slow motion. Her moves were slow, though they did pack a decent force behind them. Occasionally he would give her some advice and she would try to adapt to them, but her improvements mere minimal. Of course Naruto knew that to improve in only a couple of minutes was a ridiculous expectation, but he still wanted to help her in some way before his time with her was up and they became foes again.

Naruto was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost missed Sakura's kick. He caught it at the last possible second and twisted her leg until she fell onto the ground. "Lets take a break for a minute Sakura-san. I want to talk to you for a moment."

Sakura looked sad, but nodded and shifted into a sitting position. "I have a question." she asked.

Naruto grinned and sat down across from her, "Shoot."

"How did you know I was out here?"

Naruto chuckled, embarrassed, "Well...a friend of mine told me that you would be here actually. He stumbled across you yesterday."

Sakura looked shocked, "You mean that lad-uh...guy who I talked to! The one who was gathering herbs!"

Naruto burst out laughing, "Don't worry." he choked out between breaths, "You aren't the first person to mistake Haku for a girl, and you probably won't be the last. Actually it comes in handy in some of our missions. Horny men are much more willing to help pretty girls."

Sakura lowered her head, "Who are you?" she asked in a quiet voice, "One moment I am terrified of you, the next you are helping me and talking to me like we were friends or something. I don't understand you at all. My job is to protect the man who you are trying to kill," Naruto frowned at this, "You shouldn't be doing this for me."

Naruto chuckled, "The truth Sakura-san is that if we are stopped, it will be because of the Jounin, not you Gennin. I want to help you because I like you. I don't want you to die, now or in the future. I am hoping that if you can become stronger now, then you are less likely to die in the future."

Sakura shook her head, "But why? I mean I don't hardly know you at all. Why should you care?"

Naruto turned his head to the sky and smiled, "I was a boy from Konoha myself." Sakura's eyes opened wide in shock, "I was run out of the village when I was only five for reasons that I would rather not talk about. I didn't actually do anything bad, the villagers were just prejudiced. One day they gathered their torches and pitchforks and chased me into the forests." He looked down and smiled sadly, "I never really hated them for it you know. I don't know why, but instead it just made me want to earn their trust. I suppose I still love the village hidden in the leaves despite all that it has done to me." He looked up and smiled, "That's why I was first drawn to you and your teammates, although I also like you all as people too." His eyes narrowed, "Except for that Satsu freak...and the Uchiha."

Sakura looked contimplative for a moment and then a look of understanding washed over her, "I remember you!"

Naruto looked surprised, "Really?"

"Yes. You were that little blond goofball who was always pulling pranks on everyone. I watched from my window when you were run out of town. I wanted to say something to try and stop them, or at least understand what was going on, but I was too afraid." She suddenly looked ashamed.

Naruto smiled kindly, "Ah don't worry about it. If I haven't blamed the things Konoha did to me, then I certainly don't think anything bad of you."

Sakura shook her head as though trying to erase her thoughts, "So what happened then?" she asked.

Naruto beamed, "Then I met my savior, Zabuza-sama. He has been harsh, he has done bad things, but he saved me when I was almost nothing. I will willingly give everything of myself to him. Despite his flaws, he is the most important person in my life, and the greatest man I have ever known. Anyways, I spent the next seven years with him, running from hunter-nins, fighting, training, living off of whatever money we could make, and even killing. And here I am."

Sakura slowly shook her head, "I don't understand how anyone can live such a life."

Naruto shrugged, "You get used to it I suppose. It is easy for me now." he paused for a moment but then smiled, "But enough story time for today, we need to continue training."

Sakura looked worried for a moment but shook it off. She stood up and took a fighting stance.

Naruto slowly shook his head, "I am going to teach you one of my jutsu, but first you need to learn another exercise." Sakura looked confused. Naruto continued, "I heard about how that cockroach of a teammate of yours was able to walk on water, a pretty darn advanced technique for a worm to use." he chuckled to himself, "With the chakra control that you have, you should be able to master it pretty easily, especially for how easily you were able to climb the trees before.".

Sakura slowly nodded, "Alright, what do I have to do?"

* * *

Sakura cursed as she fell into the water again. She had been trying so hard to learn this for the last few hours. Naruto simply told her that it took far more control then climbing a tree but the idea behind it was the same. She couldn't help but feel that she should have this down by now. She turned her head to Naruto, who was practicing his Taijutsu with a shadow clone. She felt sort of pathetic watching him, he obviously wasn't even trying when they had practiced before. His attacks now were faster then she could possibly follow.

At that moment he seemed to realize that she had fallen again, "Huh? What's the matter Sakura? Maybe I should have been paying more attention to what you were doing." He looked sheepish. Sakura glared at him.

Naruto walked over onto the water and lifted her up onto her feet, "Come on Sakura-san, I'll help you this time." Without warning he twisted her around until her back was pressed into his chest and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Wha-what!?" Sakura blushed, confused.

Naruto smiled, "Just like with the tree climbing exercise, I will hold you steady until you can connect to the water on your own. That way you can get a better idea as to how to mold your chakra into your feet."

Sakura gulped but nodded and Nartuo set her feet onto the water, making sure that he didn't let her fall any further. Sakura focused her chakra into her feet. It wasn't exactly right, she could tell that if Naruto let go she would fall into the water again. She tried again. Again it wasn't right, so she made another adjustment. She smiled as she realized the point of this. It was as though she could try ten times per second rather then once before she fell.

After about a minuete she felt as though she had succeeded in getting her chakra just right. She held it for a moment, making sure that she wouldn't lose it, and then turned her head up to her unlikely teacher, "Alright, I'm ready."

Naruto nodded and slowly and gently let her go. She felt as though she were going to lose her balance for a moment and swayed from side to side before steadying herself. She smiled as she realized that she had done it.

Naruto grinned, "There see, you can do it. But just to let you know, this isn't complete yet. You were able to get your chakra right this time because you could make it that way over time. Now you have a good idea as to how your chakra is supposed to be, but you still need to learn to get it that way in an instant."

Sakura nodded, but her face was still beaming.

Naruto smiled at her, "But either way, your chakra control should be good enough now to be able to learn my special jutsu!" he spoke in a loud, excited voice.

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Gravenimage: Perhaps...he certainly deserves it.

UnderWearNinja: I always assumed that any Suiton user can generate water, it just depends on how much water you need. The second Hokage was famous because he could generate an entire lake's worth of water. Naruto, being much weaker, can only generate a small amount. But that might just be me reading things incorrectly.

Kaiser Spartan: No sound village. That would not be right.

Fury Cutter: Thanks again for the great review. Sakura will eventually realize the truth in Haku's words, but that will take a short while. I am pretty sure that I fixed all of the Konoha things this time around. And I like her reaction to Haku as well.

TheUnrealInsomniac: I figured that Zabuza would not but up with much stupidness and work that out of Naruto real quick. Thanks for all your good reviews.

Everyone else: Thanks a buch to all of you. You really have made me a happy sort of guy.


	10. Beginning of the Battle on the Bridge

Disclaimer: If I own Naruto, no one ever told me. WHERE IS MY CUT OF THE PROFITS!

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**Chapter 10: Beginning of a Battle on the Bridge,**

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Zabuza smiled as he flexed his muscles. He was recovered, and that meant that the mission was back on. He heard two sets of footsteps outside his doorstep and turned, expecting to see his two students. He was only half right.

Haku smiled pleasantly as he walked into the room, the business tycoon Gato right behind him. Zabuza scowled.

"So this is the legendary Demon of the Bloody Mist eh?" asked the fat man with contempt in his voice, "You have been on the mission for almost a week now and Tazuna is still alive. I have a right mind to sell you to the hunter-nins."

Haku narrowed his eyes, an uncharacteristic look for him, "Zabuza-sama has simply been waiting for the most opportune time to make his move. Who are you to question him?"

Zabuza noticed a thin senbon needle appear as if out of nowhere in Haku's hand. And he gave his student a meaningful look. They needed the money that Gato was offering, and they didn't want to risk their hunters looking into the death of a famous business man.

Haku grudgingly relaxed his arm.

"I am ready today Gato. I promise you that you will have your dead bridge builder by the end of the day." He glared, "And I will assume that I will have my payment for me by then as well."

Gato laughed cruelly, "With your efficiency I don't think that you deserve half what we originally agreed."

Two more sets of footsteps arrived outside and Gato's twin samurai bodyguards entered the room. They gripped their sword's handles and grinned menacingly. Gato continued, "As a matter of fact, why should I give you one seventh of what you requested when you have taken more then seven times longer then you promised?"

Zabuza reached for his sword handle underneath his blankets, but Naruto beat him to it. The blonde-haired boy appeared out of seemingly nowhere and slid his kunai underneath Gato's neck. The samurai reached for their blades only to find their sheathes empty. Haku held them both at their own master's throats.

Gato glared at Naruto, "What do you think you are doing brat?"

Naruto smiled, "Well I think that I am threatening you because of that stupid thing you just said...but honestly I can't be sure."

Gato cursed, "Fine...you will get your full pay." he said grudgingly.

Naruto nodded and shoved the fat man out of the room. Haku quickly followed suit with the twin samurai.

Naruto smirked as he watched the three sulk away and turned back to his sensei, "So I hear that we are going to make our move today."

Haku nodded, "Today we put this messy business behind us."

Naruto scratched the back of his head nervously, "Do we really have to kill the Konoha ninja?" he asked, "I don't give a darn about the Jounin and I hate that Satsu freak, but I wouldn't want to end the potential of the other Gennin."

Zabuza scowled at him, "If they become too much of a bother then we will have to stop them Naruto, you know that. Why do you care about these Konoha ninja anyways? I thought that you severed all of your ties to that place."

Haku began laughing, "That's because he's sweet on the pink-haired girl!"

Zabuza opened his eyes wide in shock as Naruto glared daggers at Haku. The older boy continued regardless, "Ever since I told him where she was training he has sneaked down there every day to watch her."

Naruto crossed his arms over his chest and pouted, "I watched her because it was my job to gather info on our enemies." he argued.

Haku snickered, "Yeah but you went down to see her way more often then any of the others."

Naruto flung a kunai at Haku, who simply grabbed the blade out of the air. It took Naruto a lot of effort to keep his voice even, "She was the only one training constantly who I could find. The Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuuga and their sensei spent most of their time guarding the old man and after Kakashi caught me watching him train the Uchiha he hid himself somewhere and I couldn't find them again."

Zabuza shook his head, "It doesn't matter Naruto, if it can be avoided we will not kill the Konoha ninja, but I cannot make any promises." He turned his head outside the window, "At in one hour, we attack."

* * *

Sasuke smirked as he stood on guard at the far end of the bridge. It was now nearly complete and it couldn't be much longer until Zabuza and his dobe of a student would be here. If they didn't show up by the end of the day...then they would be out of time.

He twisted his eyes to see his two teammates, Satsu and Sakura, the latter of which was standing as far as she could from the former. Kakashi was here as well, but his presence was hidden by an elaborate genjutsu that Kurenai had set up. Team 8 was at the other end of the bridge, standing guard from an attack from the most easily accessible and obvious route. Something in his gut told him that today would be the day that it happened.

And he would be ready. His training with Kakashi had netted astounding results. He was ten times the ninja that he had been only a few days ago.

His gaze shifted to Sakura and he couldn't help but wonder. He had very little contact with her over the past few days but when he did see her he couldn't help but think that she looked guilty, as though there was something that she was hiding from everyone. He hated when things were being hidden from him.

He mentally cursed at his pathetic teammate and focused his gaze onto Satsu. Kakashi had promised to grill him when they returned to Konoha but there had been no time here. Satsu too had secrets. In truth, Sasuke supposed that he had his own secrets as well, but he had good reason for keeping his secrets. Better reasons then Satsu's wretched arrogance or Sakura's apparent guilt.

He felt someone appear behind him and turned to see Kakashi, who had a grave look on his face. "They are here," Kakashi's voice was serious, "They aren't making any attempt to sneak in. They will attack soon."

As if summoned up by his words a thick mist covered the bridge. There was no doubt, Zabuza Momochi was here.

* * *

Naruto waked boldly into the village. He had a mission to accomplish here. While Zabuza and Haku attacked the bridge, he would go to Tazuna's house and find bridge-builder's blueprints. They would find a weak point in the structure, plant a bomb, and kill him along with his bridge.

He turned his head down in shame. He still didn't like this. Killing a man for money, even if it was a man who was willingly going to wreck an entire village for his own profit, even if it was a man who could let his own village fall into starvation and die, was despicable. He hated himself for it.

While his head was down, he noticed something odd. He fell down onto his hands and knees and began sniffing. Then he twisted his face into a contortion of disgust. Gato's bodyguards had been here. Their scents were somewhat covered by the horrible smell of alcohol, but it was definitely them.

Why? Why were they here? What possible reason could they have for leaving their masters side, even for a moment? He began following them.

It didn't take him long to realize that they were heading towards Tazuna's house. A flicker of suspicion entered his mind as he now ran towards his destination. Something was wrong here. Why on earth would Gato send his men into Tazuna's house when he knew that the bridge-builder would not be there?

He reached the house in record time. He saw the door broken down and a young woman on the ground outside, her head bleeding profusely. Naruto ran to her. She was conscious, but just barely.

"What happened here?" Naruto asked urgently.

The woman flicked her eyes to Naruto's face and began crying, "They took Inari." she whispered, "They took my son."

Naruto wasn't sure who Inari was, but he knew that this woman couldn't stay on the floor here. He lifted her up into his strong arms (an odd look considering that she was a decent bit larger then him) and dashed into the building, placing her on the first couch that he came to.

He immediately noted the pictures on the coffee table. They were of Tazuna, sometimes along with the woman, sometimes with a very young, grumpy looking boy.

Naruto turned back to the woman, "Who are you?" he asked. He already suspected, but he had to confirm.

"I am Tazuna's daughter." she answered weakly.

Naruto simply nodded, "Don't worry," he spoke in a soothing voice, "I will save your son." And he was gone.

Zabuza walked through the mist onto the bridge. Haku stood ready at his side. Hatake Kakashi stood defiantly across the bridge from him, Tazuna behind him.

"So Kakashi, we meet again."

Kakashi nodded, "For the last time I hope."

Haku walked forward, "It is a pleasure to meet you again Kakashi-san. I hope that you don't begrudge me my deception too much."

Kakashi shook his head, "Of course not, you had to defend your master. Any ninja would do the same."

There was a tension in the air that seemed incredibly fragile. Neither party wanted to be the first to break it. But a first move had to be made.

It was Zabuza who attacked first, five copies of him appearing as if out of nowhere in a circle around the Gennin.

One of the cones smirked, "Well would you look at that, the kiddies have already made some improvements. Although the Uchiha is still shaking like a little mouse when faced with a tiger."

Sasuke grinned, "Don't underestimate me Zabuza-san, I am shaking with excitement."

A large, swirling mass of claws shot at the Zabuza clones from the other end of the bridge, tearing them apart and reducing them to water. The mass stopped swirling in mid-air to reveal Kiba, who was grinning devilishly, Akamaru on his back.

Sasuke rushed the real Zabuza but was intercepted by the hunter ninja. Their kunai locked together and they both began pushing against each other.

"Don't bother kid," Zabuza spoke, "Haku is way beyond your level, you would be better off just running away."

Sasuke grinned in response, "Again, you underestimate me." he pushed harder.

Haku turned his head down towards Sasuke, "Please Uchiha-san, I would rather not kill you. Won't you please just retreat so that we can do our job."

Even if Haku had not seen them, he would have heard the two other Gennin, Kiba and Satsu, charge him from either side. Haku sighed, "I see I will have to give you a demonstration." Haku raised his one free hand and flicked through a set of hand signs. "Hyoton: Ice Lance no Jutsu!"

Each of the Konoha ninja watched in shock as the water left behind from Zabuza's clones transformed into ice, and created three long, thin spikes that each shot toward one of the Gennin. Kiba and Satsu were just barely able to dodge the ice lances.

Sasuke was forced to relinquish his hold and twist away, though the ice did manage to graze his side. A thin trickle of blood rolled down from his shallow wound.

Kakashi shook his head in disbelief, "Jutsu with one-handed seals? I've never seen that before!"

Zabuza smiled and nodded, "Haku comes from a special clan just like the Uchiha, he can do plenty of things that you have probably never seen before."

* * *

Naruto followed the scent of the two samurai for over two miles, and he was getting worried. Obviously Gato had lied to them, Tazuna had a family. Did that make everything else he said a lie as well? Was Tazuna really a treat that could destroy the economy of the land of waves, or was he the good guy? Was Gato the one who was trying to do so much damage? Or was he simply greedy?

There was only one way to find out. He needed to find this Inari and ask him what was happening. The woman had fallen unconscious and he didn't want to stress her out by constantly trying to wake her up. Besides, this Inari might need his help. He would get his answers, and if Gato had been trying to trick him into doing something horrible...then he would pay dearly.

He reached the end of the trail and jumped into a tree. He could see them, the taller, scared one with an eye-patch had the boy slug over his shoulder. Inari was struggling weakly, ropes bound his arms to his sides and his mouth was gagged.

Naruto felt his anger overtaking him, but he forced it down, knowing what could happen if he let it get out of control. He was going to kill these samurai, but not out of anger. That was the wrong way of doing this. Justice, not anger.

He catapulted himself out of the tree and landed in front of the still somewhat drunk thugs. They blinked in shock, not quite coherent enough to understand why he was there.

"Hey, 'aint you Zabuza's twerp?" asked the silvery-haired one. The last thing that he registered before he fell unconscious was Naruto's fist flying toward his face.

Naruto swept the feet out from underneath the tall one and caught Inari before he hit the ground. He jumped back a few feet and quickly tore the gag and ropes off of the young boy.

"Who-who are you!?" Demanded the kid.

Naruto glared down at the prone figures of the two samurai. When they didn't seem to be getting up anytime soon he turned to Inari and grinned his famous grin, "I am the greatest ninja in the world and I have decided to help you save your grandpa and kill Gato"

Inari gave him an incredulous look and kicked him in the worst possible place to kick a guy. As an amazing testament to his toughness Naruto was able to stop himself from falling to his knees, though he did bite his lip to stop from screaming and his eyes watered up from pain. Inari bolted.

Naruto was in front of him before he had gone more then ten feet, "What the heck was that for!?" he yelled, "I just tell you that I am going to save your grandpa and you attack me!?"

Inari glared at him, "You can't save my grandpa! No-one can! Gato is unstoppable. He has an entire legion of ninja and samurai at his disposal. If try and fight him you are seriously going to die! Everyone else who has tried has ended up like that!"

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what to make of Inari's outburst. Eventually he settled on anger, "Listen you punk! I don't have the time to listen to whatever your sob story is! Your mother is badly hurt back at your granddad's house and you need to go and tend to her." He turned away, "Only a coward runs away because he thinks that something is hopeless, so if you are a coward then just go back home and help your mommy and stay indoors like a good baby should. If you don't want to be a coward, which I doubt, then gather the villagers and bring them to the bridge. Either way Gato is going to die tonight, but maybe your people want to play a role in that." He turned back toward the bridge, "See ya coward." he finished before flickering away.

* * *

Back on the bridge the battle had gotten underway. Zabuza was fighting alone against both Kakashi and Kurenai. Haku was fighting Sasuke, Kiba, Shino, and Satsu all at once. Sakura and Hinata stood guard over Tazuna.

Sasuke stood back to back with Kiba as he tried to keep up with the insanely fast Haku as he jumped from ice mirror to ice mirror. Both boys were covered with dozens of thin needles of ice.

Sasuke was furious, "Who the heck are you!" he called angrily, "Where is that blond dobe! I wanted to fight him!"

Haku's voice seemed to emanate from everywhere at once, "Naruto is not here, he will join us shortly but for now you will have to content yourself with me."

Another barrage of needles shot from the mirrors and Sasuke yelled out in pain before collapsing. He slowly struggled back onto his feet and cursed. He had not wanted to use his new powers until he met up with Naruto again but it was becoming increasingly obvious that he would not be able to make it through this fight without them.

Before he could make a move Haku struck at him again.

"Gatsuuga no Jutsu!" Yelled the Inuzaka who then transformed once again into a spinning mass of blade-like claws before circling around his teammate. When the assault ended Kiba fell out of his Jutsu and onto the ground. He had taken most of the needles before they made it to Sasuke.

The Uchiha glared as he flashed through his own set of hand seals, "Katon: Housenka no Jutsu!" a small barrage of fireballs shot from his mouth and slammed into the ice mirrors. However, like when he had used his Goukakyuu Jutsu earlier in the fight the ice didn't seem to be at all effected by his fire. Sasuke cursed.

Haku fell from the top mirror, he stood directly in front of the Uchiha. Kiba was down, and he did not seem to be getting up anytime soon. Sasuke was not faring a whole lot better. Shino and Satsu were separated from them by an ice mirror that divided the oval shaped cage that held the Gennin.

"Please surrender yourself," Haku pleaded, "Your teammate is already defeated, and you are obviously on your last leg. Though you cannot see from here, your other allies on the other side of my ice mirror cage are faring little better. Just lay down and I will allow you to walk away with your lives."

Sasuke shook his head, "No...'pant'...No stinkin' way. I am going to prove that I am better then that Naruto, and I am not giving up until I have the shot to do that."

Haku sighed, "You will never be able to defeat Naruto, Uchiha. He may not believe so himself, but the truth is that he is far stronger then I. You cannot defeat me, and you certainly cannot defeat Naruto."

Suddenly a sharp cracking noise turned both ninja's attention to the dividing mirror. Haku opened his eyes wide in shock as it was broken in two and fell to the ground. "Impossible." he whispered.

Satsu stood behind it the once ice wall, his fist hanging in the air from where he had punched through the it. He was panting heavily. Shino stood behind him, his composure totally unshaken although he was covered in blood and ice needles.

Shino spoke, "We appear to have discovered a weakness in his abilities. His mirrors are held together with chakra, and since my insects devour chakra..." he waved his hand over the battlefield and his insects swarmed out from behind the ice.

Sasuke grinned as he make his hand seals for a second time, "Katon!" he called out eagerly, "Housenka no Jutsu!"

Haku dashed out of the way of the incoming fireballs. His now drained shield didn't fare quite so well. They were water before they touched the ground.

Sasuke grinned, "Looks like the tables are turned hunter-nin!"

Haku did not seem worried. He simply made another hand seal and spoke, "Hyoton: Demonic Ice Armor Jutsu."

Now his ice grew up from the ground and covered his body, creating a suit of armor that looked similar to something a shogun would wear. A long spear of ice appeared in his hand.

* * *

Zabuza swung his sword in a downward arc, his eyes closed shut. It was a simple strategy that would have probably not worked for almost anyone else on earth, but he was a master at killing someone through the use of sound alone.

He had tried, multiple times, to slip through Kakashi and Kurenai's defenses and kill the bridge builder with as little effort as possible. Unfortunately they proved much more adept then he had anticipated and had stopped him at every turn. He would have to at least incapacitate them.

One advantage of the mist was that he could focus on one of his foes without having to worry about the other one. He wasn't certain that he could defeat both Jounin on his own, but one at a time should not be that difficult. Even if one of those ones was the legendary copy ninja Hatake Kakashi.

"You know you'll never get away with this." Kakashi spoke, "I know all about your past, and all about why you had to become a missing-nin in the first place."

Zabuza chuckled, "You mean how I tried to assassinate the Mizukage? Don't bother trying to rile me up with that. I am glad that I failed actually."

Kakashi frowned, "Why is that?"

"You people from Konoha tried to form a mob and kill one of your own a few years back. He survived and I found him and nurtured him into a strong ninja. If I had not failed in my assassination, then I would never have had the chance to fix your villages much greater failure."

Kakashi blanched, but it was Kurenai who spoke, "The boy's fate was a sad one, but we are not responsible for it. The things that the boy went through were reprehensible, but I can understand why the villagers did them. Fear makes people do terrible things and no parent wants their children to be around a child that even has the smallest possibility of being dangerous or unstable."

Zabuza laughed his frightening laugh, "Really? I have lived with his for years and I have never seen anything to suggest that he is unstable. He has become one of the greatest ninja I have ever know, and he is forever by my side. He told me that he once had dreams of protecting the people of Konoha. Now he only fights for me."

"It is not our fault." Kurenai persisted.

"No...perhaps not directly, but you could have saved him. You could have been humane to him at least rather then treating him like a pariah. You may not have been the ones who gave him so much pain, but you did not help him either. I was the only one who did that. You are just as much to blame as them, Konoha ninja. Now wallow in your own shame."

Kakashi hated those words. He hated Momochi Zabuza. He hated himself. He hated because he knew that his enemy was right. The boy should have been his responsibility. His own sensei had wanted that. But he had turned away, turned away because he was afraid. He had been far too hurt by his sensei's death to allow himself to be the person that he should have been. He had watched over Naruto from afar, making sure that he was safe and healthy, but never letting his presence known because he didn't think that he could bare the pain of caring for another person so soon. Not after he had lost the last person that he had ever cared for. And now it was too late, he could not make amends.

Zabuza's words stung so badly because he had always blamed himself for exactly this. He didn't see until it was too late Zabuza's guillotine blade descending onto his shoulder.

* * *

Raptor2001: I already stated that one of the two would die, either Haku or Zabuza. I shall not reveil which one it is until it happens. Naruto will return to Konoha eventually, but not as a citizen. He will participate in the Chunnin exams. And I totally agree with the slow romance thing. Don't worry about that, they won't get together for a decent while.

jstrife: Naruto is as strong as Chunnin exam Neji, I don't think that he could beat Kurenai at this point. Don't worry, I don't plan on abondoning this story.

TheUnrealInsomniac: And you get another one! Yes, I think that Naruto helping Sakura was a good thing. He still loves Konoha in his heart of hearts and he wants to feel a connection to it again. At least that is how it started out, very quickly he found himself drawn to Sakura. He is already fond of her, though that will take a long time to change into something else.

BatsintheBellfry: I understand liking NaruHina, but this fanfic will definately be NaruSaka, and KibaHina. I will have Naruto and Hinata become friends eventually though, so you should be happy with that.

where r my chips: Naruto has a dual elemental affinity, water and wind, but being trained by Zabuza, he focuses much more on his water one. He will learn a few wind jutsu eventually though :)


	11. Battle on the Bridge, Part 2

Disclaimer: If I owned Naruto I would be writing real storys instead of fanfictions. But I'm not, so I don't

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**Chapter 11: Battle on the Bridge Continues,**

* * *

Kakashi tried to defend himself from the attack. He whipped out a pair of kunai as fast as his arms could move and crossed them in the path of the blade. His arm muscles shifted in preparation for the insanely powerful sword slash that he could see coming towards him. His Sharingan told him exactly what the sword was about to do, and yet his own personal grief distracted him too much. He knew a moment before it hit that he had failed.

The blade sliced through his shoulder and into his right lung. Kakashi's kunai defence deflected enough of the blade's force to prevented it from killing him instantly, but even if they had a whole team of master healers on their side it was obvious that this was a mortal wound. Hatake Kakashi, the legendary copy-nin of Konoha, was going to die.

Kurenai watched in horror as her teammate fell to the ground, his body half cloven in two. This was no illusion, she would be able to see through any illusion that Kakahshi could conjure up. This was real. Kakashi was beaten. Utterly and totally. She was alone, and she knew that she was no match for this missing-nin. For the first time in a long time she was terrified. Her heart began pounding and her face broke out in a cold sweat. Barring some miracle, she knew that there was only one ending left for her in this fight.

She was going to die next.

Surprisingly, she found herself not afraid for herself. She had always known the dangers that her job entailed. She had always known that at any point she could meet someone strong enough to kill her. She had resigned herself to that fate long ago. And yet still...she feared. She feared for the three children whom had been placed in her care.

She feared for little Hinata, who was not really the right material to be a ninja, who was so generous and kind and pure, who cared for every being that walked on this earth. What would happen to her when her sensei was dead? Would Momochi Zabuza kill her as well or spare her? She didn't deserve to die.

She feared for brash and bold Kiba, who had so much inner strength, who was more loyal then the dogs that he revolved so much around, who would walk through a wall of fire for any of his teammates, or anyone in his village for that matter. Would he make it back to become a great and renowned ninja as was his dream, or would Momochi slaughter him when this was all over?

She feared for quiet and reclusive Shino, who put up a non-caring front, who tried to act as though he cared for nothing but his insects and the mission, who truly felt so strongly for his teammates that his heart would probably give out if anything were to happen to them. Would he ever have the time to open up to his teammates? Would he live longer then a few more hours?

Kurenai surprised herself really, that she had grown to care about them all so much in such a short time. She had never been the type to be overly emotional, and she had only been these children's sensei for a few weeks. She wondered vaguely if this was what it would feel like to be a mother.

She didn't even see the sword hilt come down on her head and smash her unconscious.

* * *

Sasuke felt his heart thundering in his chest, desperately attempting to move what blood he had left through his body and into his vital spots. Kiba and Shino were both down. This new technique that their foe had pulled out was far more then they could handle. It reminded him of trying to get the bell from Kakashi back on his first day, the only difference being that here his foe was out to kill him.

"I am curious" He spoke between gasped breaths as he shifted his eyes to every point on the battle field. The hunter had apparently disappeared, "If you had this kind of power all along, why didn't you use it to take us out from the start?" Try to keep the foe talking. The longer he was kept talking, the longer Sasuke would have to think up a counter measure.

"My job is not to kill you Uchiha-san." the ice user spoke from seemingly no-where, "I am only meant to keep you incapacitated until Zabuza-sama can eliminate the target. This ability is dangerous, but unfortunately, you have forced my hand."

Sasuke flicked his eyes from the prone figure to his two fallen teammates and then to Satsu, who was bleeding profusely and barely standing, "Dangerous? Why would you care about that?" Try to keep him talking, that was the key.

"I am not a person who would kill for no reason Uchiha-san." The voice suddenly became harsh, "But you seem to leave me no choice this time." A large new gash appeared as if out of nowhere on Sasuke's chest, splattering more blood onto the ground, "You would have been better off simply staying as weak as you were and allowing me to take you out quickly and painlessly."

Sasuke fell to his knees as more of his blood seeped from his body. His vision was becoming hazy and he knew that he had to find a way to finish this as fast as he possibly could. He needed more time.

He sensed, rather then heard the ice clad figure appear behind him. He could almost see, in his minds eye, the lance of ice shoot down into his shoulder. His eyes opened wide in shock and he coughed up a small fountain of blood. And yet, he could see his chance.

Using the last of his strength, he grabbed onto the bloody lance protruding from his shoulder and heaved it downward. The leverage caused a surprised Haku to be pulled into the air. Sasuke tilted reached into his ninja satchel, pulled out a pair of exploding tags (a small gift from Kakahi, just in case he would need it) and blindly threw them into the air above his head.

His hopes were rewarded as he heard the tags explode above him and saw the smoking, ice clad figure of his enemy fall to the ground in front of him, stunned but not clearly not injured. Sasuke would fix that.

The Uchiha focused his chakra into his eyes, and when he opened them they had changed. They were red, and each eye held a single black tomoe.

* * *

Naruto ran as fast as his legs could carry him (pretty fast if he did say so himself) towards the bridge. He desperately hoped that he could make it before anything irreversible happened.

He didn't know, nor did he particularly care, what the little boy Inari would do when he calmed down a bit. He hoped that he could rally the villagers. Not that Naruto couldn't take down half of Gato's army himself without breaking a sweat, but to truly save this village they would need to learn to take up their own mantle and fight for themselves.

He ducked and weaved through the branches, faster then a cheetah, and more agile then a monkey. He had to get there in time. He had to make sure that Tazuna lived, that the Konoha ninja lived, that his most important two people in the world lived, and most importantly of all, he absolutely needed to see Gato die.

He reached the end of the forest and began running on foot. The bridge was in sight, shrouded by a thick mist that made it impossible to see what was going on, but he could feel two spikes of powerful chakra. One was familiar and made him cringe. Haku had broken out his ice armor, which meant that he was in danger. The armor was powerful, but the longer Haku used it, the more damage his body would take. It was a double edged sword.

The other spike was unfamiliar to him, though he knew instantly whom it had to be. It was not exactly the same, but he had felt a very similar power when Hatake Kakashi had impaled his clone with his fist. It had to be the Uchiha.

He reached the bridge, hoping desperately that he wasn't too late, sucked in a deep breath, and prepared to shout.

* * *

A few minutes ago...

Sasuke flicked through a set of hand signs. Focusing what little chakra he had left into the palms of his hands. He had promised Kakashi that he would not use this technique unless he had no other choice, and he had a clear shot. Well he couldn't imagine a better shot then right now, or a time when he would be more desperate.

He finished his hand signs and grinned triumphantly, "CHIDORI!" he yelled at the top of his lungs and charged. He knew that he wasn't as fast as he should be, that the jutsu wouldn't work at it's full potential, but hopefully it would be enough. It would have to be. If this failed, they had nothing to fall back on.

His eyes could see the armored hunter-nin stand to his feet as though it were happening in slow motion. He was half-way there. His foe twisted around to face him. He was three quarters of the way there. The ice user pulled his lance up in an attempt to counter his attack.

Sasuke was the faster.

Haku opened his eyes wide in shock as Sasuke's lightning encased hand sliced into his shoulder. He had been able to shift himself just enough so that the blade missed his heart, but he had still been badly wounded and his armor had been partially broken. He shifted his foe's hand out of his shoulder and gently pushed him to the ground.

The Uchiha was depleted of nearly all of his chakra, and his body was so badly torn apart that, if he didn't get medical attention immediately, he would surely die. Haku hated to kill an innocent boy, but this child was dead anyways. He would ease the Uchiha's passing. Haku lifted his ice lance and shoved it downward into the his foe's prone body.

It never reached it's intended target.

Haku twisted his head a fraction of an inch to see the pink haired girl from the forest with a look of determination on her face. She had deflected the ice lance with her bare hand. Haku opened his eyes wide as she smirked and then disintegrated into mist.

He felt a weak chakra source behind him and twisted around to see the real Sakura standing with a smug look on her face and her arms crossed over her chest. She looked determined. Haku chuckled slightly as he realised what had happened. Naruto really was going to have some explaining to do when this was all over. For now however Haku was slightly more interested in what was happening currently. Naruto would have to wait.

"Haruno Sakura," he spoke softly, "You seem to have learned a few new tricks since I found you in that clearing. Have you found something worth protecting yet?"

If Sakura was surprised by Haku's words she didn't show it, she simply smiled and nodded, "I think I have. I won't let you hurt Sasuke-kun." Sakura made a single hand sign and spoke, "Kiri Bunshin no Jutsu!"

An exact copy of Sakura appeared out of the mist from behind Haku and swung her fist at the back of the ice user's head. Haku tilted his head to the side and felt the gust of air left in the wake of the girl's punch. The clone dissipated almost immediately.

Mist clones. Not the same as simple water clones, both more useful and less depending on what your purpose is. They could only be created in a thick mist like the kind created by Zabuza's Kirigakure no Jutsu, and they only lasted for a moment, just enough to get off a single punch or kick. Their advantage was that they took only a negligible amount of chakra to summon up, and much more importantly, so long as you had the mist, they could be brought into existence at any place, no matter how far it was from the creator. Meaning that Sakura could create a clone from 200 miles away if she wished, so long as she had the mist from which to make it. So simple, yet so useful in the right hands.

But against Haku, it might has well have been nothing. The ice user dashed in a small arc, faster then any human should be able to move, and slashed at Sakura's shoulder with his ice lance. The pink-haired girl was barely able to dodge the attack. She dashed as far away as possible and placed her hands together, focusing her chakra and creating a mist clone directly at Haku's left flank. The clone didn't even have time to get off it's one attack before it was cut down.

Sakura continued to generate clones as fast as she could, and proceeded to watch them all be cut down faster then they appeared. Haku was still approaching faster then any human had the right to move. The pattern continued, with Sakura barely dodging the attacks and Haku effortlessly deflecting her numerous clones.

Sakura needed to get to Sasuke. She needed to bring him out of the way so that he could try to stay alive long enough for them to give him medical attention. Haku wasn't making that very easy. She barely had a moment's let up every time she created a clone. She knew that without them, she would most likely already be down. She certainly didn't have enough time to grab Sasuke and carry him out of the way.

Somehow, that ice armor was making him faster. Unnaturally faster. But it only went as far as his feet. Thankfully his arms still seemed to still be moving at a normal speed, though that speed was still faster then she would be able to handle without her new ninjutsu. She needed to figure out the secret of that armor, or else this fight was as good as lost.

"Sakura" her breath caught in her chest as she heard the ragged and torn voice of her downed teammate. Her head turned automatically toward Sasuke and she nearly lost her head because of it. Thankfully a clone that she had created only a moment ago had used it's one second lifespan to jump in the way of Haku's lance.

"Sakura," Sasuke continued, "don't look at me, keep your focus on your enemy, just listen to what I have to say." Sakura nodded without looking at him, "In the brief moment when I had my Sharingan working, I saw how his ability works." Haku actually stopped his assault and turned his head to focus on Sasuke as well. He looked interested. "What you are seeing is only an illusion Sakura."

"You mean like a Genjutsu?" The girl asked, confused. She had been hoping that it was a Genjutsu from the beginning but nothing had happened when she had tried to dispel it.

"No," Sasuke continued, "It is technically a ninjutsu, but it does function as a genjutsu. When he moves, his armor leaves in it's path thousands of microscopic shards of ice that floats in the air. These shards bend the light, distorting your vision." He coughed violently, "He is actually moving slower then he was before he put on the armor, but like a fun-house mirror, he can make it look like he has moved a great distance when he has really only moved a few feet."

Sasuke lost consciousness. The effort of talking was obviously more then he could handle.

Haku began chuckling, "Very impressive Uchiha-san. I suppose I should have expected this from the famous Sharingan." he turned back to Sakura and fell back into a fighting stance.

For a moment, Sakura wondered why Haku had simply stood aside and let Sasuke explain away his secret as he had. Then her blood ran cold as she realised the reason. Because it didn't matter. Haku was still going to win, probably without expending too much effort.

Sakura thought hard about what Sasuke had told her. Not really fast...in fact slower then normal. At the moment Haku looked like he was around 20 yards away, but if he wanted to look like he was moving toward her at a highly advanced speed he would have to actually be much closer. It was a long shot, but...

Sakura took a step forward and swung her fist in the direction that her foe was in. To her surprise and delight, her arm extended at a blinding speed until it appeared to be nearly 50 feet long, just short of where Haku was standing. Although it was impossible to see behind his mask, she suspected that Haku was smirking.

He swiftly twirled his lance and cut into Sakura's hand. She yanked it back, and grabbed it with her other hand. The injury was small, but it would prevent her from using her right hand. She jumped forward, now on the offensive, and the fight was back on.

With her new knowledge of how Haku's jutsu worked, Sakura felt encouraged. She kept mostly on the defensive, but moved around as much as possible, trying to learn to correct her movements for this fun-house illusion. As time went by, her attacks became more precise. She was learning, and her clones were coming closer and closer to landing a hit as they realised how slowly Haku was moving in actuallity.

Sakura grinned in excitement as she felt her fist brush against the side of Haku's armor. Her victory was short lived however as she felt a freezing cold blade slice her back open. She fell to the ground.

Haku sighed, "I am so sorry Sakura-chan. I didn't want to have to truly harm you but you really did impress me. Naruto must have taught you well in these last few days. I was hoping to just keep you busy until Zabuza could complete the mission or Naruto returned, but now I am afraid I must finish this quickly."

Sakura cursed under her breath. Haku had just been toying with her the whole time then. "So are you going to kill me then?" she asked scornfully.

"No."

Sakura was surprised, "Why not? You were going to kill Sasuke-kun."

"I was going to end his pain. Your Sasuke-kun is injured to the point where only immediate medical attention could have a hope of saving him, and even that is unlikely. For him to continue being in pain is just unnecessary cruelty."

Sakura glared at her enemy, "I thought that you were a killer?"

Haku tilted his head slightly to the side, "I am." he replied, "But that does not mean that I kill indiscriminately." Sakura looked confused. Haku sighed, "Have you ever heard the story of Muramasa and Masamune?"...

* * *

heartlessgroom: Not God-like. That is exactly what I was going for. Thanks.

jayenator2.0: Oh don't worry, Gato will die.

jstrife: Why should he? They didn't do anything to him personally, and even if they did, Naruto didn't hold any resentment for when they kicked him out of the village. This is nothing compared to that.

TheUnrealInsomniac: Don't worry, Gato's death is just around the corner.

AzureSwordsman101: Wow...thanks a bunch man. For getting you back into fanfiction...that is really something. That has to be the greatest praise I have ever gotten.

Everyone else: Again, thanks ever so much for reviewing my humble little story. You guys mean the world to me.


	12. Battle on the Bridge, Finale

Note: Again I am very sorry for the long time between updates. Situations beyond my control have made it difficult to get time to write.

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Disclaimer: I own just about...nothing. Certainly not Naruto. Although I do own _this_ story.

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**Chapter 12: Battle on the Bridge Finale,**

* * *

Sakura thought for a moment. Muramasa? Masamune? She had heard these names in legend but she hadn't ever given them much thought. "They're legendary swords aren't they?" she asked, confused.

Haku tilted his head up, "Yes...and no." He paused for a moment and seemed to smile, "Muramasa and Masamune are known in legend as the two greatest sword smiths who ever lived. Or at least Masamune was." He tilted his head back down to look at Sakura, "In his time Masamune created thousands of blades, for samurai, shogun, even ninja. Anyone who needed a sword could acquire a masterful one from him, and his only price was that the buyer proved that he was worthy of holding such a blade."

Despite herself Sakura was curious. What was the purpose of this story? Why was Haku telling her this?

As though he had read her thoughts Haku replied, "Don't worry Sakura-chan, there is a purpose to this story." He continued, "Muramasa was Masamune's student, and a sword smith of considerable talent himself. As he grew more skilled however he grew more arrogant. He believed that he was superior to his master. One day he confronted his master, telling him that he was past his prime and that he himself had surpassed him as the greatest sword smith of the world." Haku sighed, "To prove it, he challenged his master to a contest. They would both take off for a week and create the greatest blade that they possibly could. At the end of the week they would meet at the bank of a river near Masamune's forge and test their blades."

Sakura shook her head in confusion. She still didn't see the point of this. But she patiently kept silent.

"Muramasa spent his seven days creating a terrible blade. He did not sleep. He did not eat. He only poured his soul into his blade, along with his hatred, pride, malice, and his will to destroy and dominate. At the end of his week he was rewarded with a midnight black katana, it's aura more evil then any sword before it. He returned to his master's forge, confident in his sword."

"At the river's bank, Masamune appeared with a simple white katana. It did not appear special in any way, unlike Muramasa's intricate designs and patters that he placed into his sword's blade and hilt. Muramasa declared that his sword was superior and to prove it he thrust his blade into the river. The destruction was terrible and magnificent. The river itself split in two, going off in opposite directions, repelled by the awesome force of Muramasa's blade. The water was dyed red from the blood of the fish who were sliced in two simply by the energy that surrounded the sword. Even the twigs and leaves that floated down the river were shredded. Nothing escaped the raw power of Muramasa's sword."

"The student declared that no blade could possibly be superior to his masterpiece as he pulled it from the river. Masamune gently slid his sword into the river. Nothing appeared to happen. Not even a ripple appeared in the water, and the fish swam right by the blade as though it didn't even exist. Muramasa laughed in glee at his master's blade. He believed that he had won."

Haku smiled, "It was then that a passing hermit walked by the river. In amazement he told the two that he had never seen such an amazing blade in his life. Muramasa believed he was speaking about his own sword and proudly extended his blade for the hermit to examine, however the old man ignored him and continued to Masamune. He asked the sword maker how he could create such a masterpiece. Muramasa was furious. He asked how a blade which did so little could be greater then his own, which had split the river itself. The man stated that though Muramasa's blade was impressive in it's power, it was uncontrollable and the only thing it was capable of was death and destruction. Masamune's blade was amazing because it would not cut the fish that passed by it, and it would not kill unless it needed to. Muramasa's sword killed everything around it, Masamune's was just as powerful, but it's power understood restraint."

"In his fury Muramasa attacked his master with his all-consuming blade. With a flick of his own blade, Masamune shattered his student's blade before it could cause any more destruction." Haku smiled to himself, "And that, Sakura-chan, is the story of the two great sword smiths. Now do you understand why I do not want to kill you?"

Sakura laid her head back on the concrete behind her, "Let me guess...you are Masamune right?"

Haku chuckled, "Me? No...I am just the old man by the river. No...if any of us have the right to be called the Masamune in our group it would be Naruto." Sakura raised an eyebrow in confusion and Haku continued, "For so many years Zabuza was lost in his own anger. He lived for destruction. Naruto saved him from that." The ice ninja paused for a moment and slowly a sad smile crept over his face. "I could never have done such things...all I am good for is sitting in judgment."

Sakura slowly shook her head. Again it all went back to the blond-haired boy, Naruto, "Who...is he?" she asked tentatively, "What is that boy's story?"

Haku smiled, "When this is all over...you should ask him yourself."

Sakura was shocked by this suggestion, "But...we are enemies...aren't we?" She didn't sound very sure of her own assessment.

Haku actually chuckled at this, "You didn't seem to mind so much when you met with him every day to train."

Sakura blushed, "H-How did you-"

"He's the only one who could have possibly taught you that mist clone technique. After all, he is the one who invented it."

Sakura didn't know what to think. She had assumed that the mist clones were something that came from Kirigakure. She had never thought that he had actually given her one of his own personal jutsu. She was sort of...touched. That wasn't the kind of thing that you just gave out to anyone. She also couldn't help but feel somewhat worried for the blonde-haired boy. What would his sensei do if he found out that Naruto had spent the last few days teaching her one of his own special jutsu?

Haku seemed to realize her worries, "Don't worry," he chuckled, "I won't tell if you don't."

Sakura glared at him. This person had, not a few minutes ago, attempted to kill Sasuke, and yet he was trying to act familiar with her now, as though they were old friends. She felt like she was supposed to be angry with this person, but somehow that was quickly becoming impossible. She was annoyed with herself.

Her annoyance was short-lived however.

"ZABUZA-SAMA, WAIT!!!"

Haku turned his head to Naruto's voice, concern etched onto his face. His attention was totally turned toward Naruto, leaving himself unprotected.

A flash of steel and a dull thud, and Haku coughed up a splatter of blood.

* * *

Zabuza froze in place, Tazuna the bridge builder on the ground directly below him. His sword was less then an inch from the terrified man's face. He recognized the timbre of urgency and fear in his student's voice, and it worried him. Something had to be genuinely wrong.

The Demon of the Hidden Mist raised his sword up and twisted towards where the voice had come from. There stood Naruto, but whatever he had been intending to say before seemed to have been forgotten.

The boy was staring off into space with a look of horror. Zabuza traced the path of his students vision and his breath caught in his throat.

The rotten Gennin who had offered to join him was standing up, seemingly unharmed. His kunai was buried in the back of Haku's neck. Zabuza watched in shock as the child slowly pulled back and Haku collapsed onto the ground.

* * *

Naruto's whole body shook. His vision was distorted, yet his ears seemed to take in everything ten times better then it had. He could hear every breath that Sakura took, every shift of Haku's body as it fell to the concrete, every tiny fluctuation of the wind through his hair. He could smell Haku's blood and his own sweat, and even the single tear that was welling up in his eye. Reality seemed to be clotting up, slowing down and bending into something unacceptable. It was like there were a million tiny strings in the air, twisting and tensing, waiting for some tiny vibration to break their all encompassing hold.

Then it broke, like a nuclear explosion the air burned red as Naruto screamed in fury to the heavens. The downed Gennin's bodies were flung to the side like leaves in a hurricane. Sakura clamped her hands to her ears and clenched her eyes tight as she felt the force of the energy blow her to the far side of the bridge.

Only Satsu stood his ground, a manic grin plastered on his face as he watched Naruto scream. This is what he existed for, to watch others in pain. He reveled in it, and now there was only one pain that he could possibly inflict that was stronger.

Naruto exploded forward, his body covered by a skintight red veil of energy and a single red fox tail whipping behind him. His claws reached for Satsu's neck, but they did not find their mark. Satsu dropped onto his back and swung his foot upward, toward Naruto's face, a small blade attached to the toe of his boot.

Satsu's eyes opened wide as Naruto caught his foot in midair, cutting open his own hand on the blade. The enraged Jinchuuriki twisted his prey's foot until he heard the sound of shattering bone and Satsu screamed.

Naruto reached down and gripped his hand around Satsu's neck, lifting him up into the air. Five trails of blood rolled down from the Gennin's neck, one from each of Naruto's claws.

Satsu let out a strangled laugh, "What...What awesome anger!" his eyes were glazed in insanity, "What awesome pain! Do you hate me? Do you want to kill m-ugh!"

Naruto's grip tightened and Satsu coughed up a small splash of blood onto the fox boy's face. "Fantastic!" the Gennin choked out, "Kill me then, I can't wait! But just remember that you are responsible for that guy's death too. I could never have done it if you hadn't have come in yelling and distracting him. I couldn't have done it without you, thanks for that comrade."

Satsu grinned manically and watched as tears welled up in Naruto's eyes, instantly evaporated by the heat of the fox energy that surrounded him. This grin froze itself on Satsu's face as Naruto plunged his free, clawed hand into his chest. The Jinchuuriki gripped something large and squishy, and snarled as he slammed his chakra into Satsu. Flame-like waves of energy cascaded over Satsu's figure, searing his skin and burning his hair away. Within moments the body was unrecognizable. With one final heave, Naruto tossed the burned and mangled corpse into the river. Satsu was dead.

* * *

Zabuza watched as his student, his caring and loving student who hated to see excessive violence so much, brutally murder the defenseless Gennin and discarded his body like it was so much trash.

"Naruto..." he spoke quietly, "What has happened to you?" As he spoke a second fox-like tail appeared behind Naruto. Someone had to stop him before he hurt himself or anyone else that he didn't want to.

"Naruto!" Zabuza called out again, louder this time. The fox-boy turned to glare at him. The Demon of the Hidden Mist plunged his guillotine sword into the ground beside him, "Bring it!"

At his beckoning the two-tailed Naruto exploded towards him, it's claws outstretched. An instant before it reached the rogue Jounin, Zabuza flickered out of existence. Naruto twisted his head around, trying to find where Zabuza had disappeared to.

Finally he heard a voice above him, "Suiton: Concussive Water Orbs Jutsu!" The beast turned his head up to see Zabuza in free-fall, with five orbs of water surrounding him, each about the size of a beach ball. One by one, each of the orbs fired themselves at Naruto.

The Jinchuuriki roared furiously and slammed his palms into the ground, causing five blasts of red-hot chakra to fire up out of the ground, intercepting the water blasts and turning them into vapor, and coating the entire bridge in a thick cloud of steam.

* * *

Sakura shivered in fear as she crawled her way over to Haku's body, the one closest to where she had landed. This cloud of demonic energy was still unbearable to stand in, though to her surprise she felt that it was easier then last time. Perhaps she was growing used to it, or perhaps her brief closeness to Naruto had changed something about how she perceived it. Whatever the reason it left her strong enough to pull herself over to the others.

She placed her fingers to Haku's neck and smiled. There was a pulse, a faint one but it meant that Haku wasn't dead yet. The nerves in Haku's spine had been damaged, but not more then what Ninja healing jutsu could fix. The only reason that he was even unconscious was because he had slammed his head into the concrete when Naruto's power had exploded outward with so much force.

Sakura smiled and pulled Haku's head into her lap as she tried to coax him awake. Somehow she knew that he was the only one who could safely snap Naruto out of his rage. She was too preoccupied with what she was doing to hear the quiet rustling behind her.

* * *

Naruto and Zabuza stood on the surface of the water below the bridge. Zabuza grimaced as he clutched his right arm, which was bleeding profusely. Zabuza certainly had skill and experience on his side and that had so far kept him alive, but Naruto had the advantage in speed and raw power. In spite of the danger of the situation, Zabuza couldn't help but be proud of his student. The moment that they had left the bridge behind, the ferocity of Naruto's attacks had increased dramatically. Somehow the boy had been forcing himself to hold his power back until the people around him were out of harm's way. Zabuza knew that Naruto became more violent and feral when the fox's chakra pushed it's way through, and with two tails in play it was amazing that some part of him was still able to keep himself under control. Unfortunately now was not the time for pride in his student. He had a job to do.

Naruto dashed forward, faster then any normal person should be able to see. Even Zabzua's trained eyes couldn't follow the fox's path. Thankfully he didn't need his eyes, as he had a much more useful advantage. He knew how Naruto fought. Zabuza waited, counting the seconds and looking for a sign. After a moment he smirked and slammed his foot into the water, sending a high pressure geyser of water into the attacking Jinchurriki's eyes.

Nartuo stumbled in shock. The water evaporated almost insantly after it reached his body but still for just a brief moment the fox-boy was blinded. This moment of shock was all that Zabuza needed to slam his elbow into Naruto's back and send him splashing into the water. Zabuza quickly ran his hands through a set of seals and whispered, "Suiton: Major Water Tornado Jutsu". For a moment nothing happened. Then, the water below Zabuza's feet slowly began to twist, accelerating until the sheer speed of the water caused it to slosh up and over Zabuza's feet, and yet still the Demon didn't stagger. After a moment, the water began to rise into the air, engulfing Momochi Zabuza and continuing up until the raging, twirling pillar of water rose over 100 feet into the air. Out of all of Zabuza's Suiton techniques, this one was the second greatest in terms of raw power, and certainly the most flashy. The major problem however was that it was only good when on top of a large body of water, and it took a long time to activate. He was working on overcoming these two problems.

Zabuza looked up into his twister, searching for his student. Normally it would be impossible to see something as small as a person within the enormous vortex but Zabuza smirked as he noticed a small ball of glowing red light that could only be the energy from the Kyuubi, spinning in large circles around the perimeter of the water pillar. That smirk soon became a frown however as the glowing red light rapidly grew. After a moment the red energy exploded outward, destroying the water tornado and sending water flying in all directions. Zabuza was flung backwards into the water.

* * *

Kiba's eyes opened wide as his face was drenched in water. He shakily rose to his feet and shook himself off like a dog, his head woozy from whatever it was that the ice ninja had done to knock him out. He slowly reached his hand up to feel around his neck and found an icey needle sticking into the area near his jugular. Angrily he ripped the needle out and immediately fell to one knee, having twisted a nerve in the process. Water dripped onto his face. Had it been raining before? He shook his head again and struggled onto his feet, looking around for his teammates.

His eyes automatically sought out Hinata, who was laying motionless on the ground. Worried, Kiba ran to her and lifted her limp body into his arms. Kiba cursed as he felt her strained breathing against his chest. Her forehead was sweating and although Kiba didn't have much of an experience with medical problems he thought that her forehead also felt warmer then usual, meaning that she had a fever. A moment later he realized why.

A wave of malevolence cascaded over Kiba and he broke out into a cold sweat. The dog ninja immediately recognized the feel of the energy, although he had only felt it once before and it had been much weaker then, it was still unmistakable. The demon boy, and he was way stronger now then he had been before. Kiba felt his muscles locking up and his head refused to turn to view the source, which he could tell was behind him and somewhere off the bridge. Every instinct in his body screamed at him to run, but at the same time fear seemed to paralyze him, rooting him to the spot. No wonder Hinata had fainted, she had always had a weak constitution.

Kiba's eyes narrowed as he realized what he was thinking. Hinata was in danger, she needed his help. Forcing himself against the paralyzing force of the fox's chakra he slowly rose to his feet, Hinata in his arms. The dog ninja took a deep breath and ran, as fast as his legs could carry him, to the end of the bridge. Too preoccupied with the downed Hyuuga that he failed to even see his own sensei's unconscious form, nor the mysterious absence of Hatake Kakashi's corpse.

* * *

Zabuza was flung back from the force of Naruto's shock-wave. He furiously blinked his eyes to try and force the water from them, and faster then any being has the right to move, Naruto appeared above him, reaching out and sinking his claws into Zabuza's chest. Naruto opened his mouth wide and seemed to suck in a deep breath, but Zabuza knew that it was more then that. There was a glowing red light in the back of the demon-boy's throat. A blast at this range would obliterate the ex-Mist Jounin.

A moment before Naruto fired off his demon-chakra blast, Zabuza swung his elbow up into Naruto's jaw, jamming the Jinchurriki's mouth shut and tilting it upward. A blinding flash of red light erupted through Naruto's clenched teeth, followed by a large trail of smoke, and the Jinchurriki's eyes rolled back in his head as he fell into the ocean.

Zabuza gracefully landed on the water and turned to watch the place where his student had fallen underneath. For a long while there was nothing, not even bubbles and Zabuza worried that he might have caused greater damage then he intended by causing Naruto's fox energy to detonate inside his mouth. Whenever Naruto had entered these states in the past he had never been effected by his own power, but on the other hand he had never transformed to this extent before, so there is really no way of predicting exactly what would happen. Just when the ex-Jounin was starting to consider diving to look for the Jinchurriki boy a soft red light began glowing beneath the water.

Naruto slowly reserfaced, water cascading off of his hunched form. His eyes glowed red both with fox energy and sheer anger, his lips curled back in a snarl, but Zabuza still smiled. One of Naruto's two tails had dissapeared. He was making progress.

* * *

Naruto tried to shake off the feelings of rage that seemed to saturate his heart and mind. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that attacking this man was the last thing that he wanted to do. Some part of his psyche was telling him that he needed to get back up to the bridge to tend to his teammate and brother figure, and that he was wasting time on this childish berzerker-like tantrum. But all of this was pushed into the back of his mind, taking second place to the knowledge that this man in front of him had just nearly killed him. He needed to vent his anger on this enemy.

Naruto slammed his palms into the water, sending a pair of fox chakra tendrils toward his sensei. A moment before the red reached him, the enemy dashed to the side and the tendrils followed him beneath the waves. Naruto watched as the enemy zig-zagged back and forth across the water, coming closer every moment as he dodged the attacking chakra claws. Naruto snarled as he realized that he wasn't going to be able to catch the lighting fast Jounin and retracted his claws. Immediately he had to raise his arms to defend from a roundhouse kick to the face.

Naruto and the enemy traded blows, Naruto mostly on the defence as the enemy attacked ferociously. Was it just him or was his sensei suddenly moving much faster? A moment ago he could see every move that the Jounin made as though they were coming in slow motion, now he was struggling to keep up. Either the enemy was somehow moving much faster, or he was moving slower. Naruto violently slashed his claws at his foe, who retaliated by grabbing the fox-boy's wrist and lifting him into the air before grabbing his neck and slamming him inot the water. Naruto growled and gripped onto the enemy's hands with his claws, drawing a large amount of blood. The enemy flinched and Naruto used the opportunity to kick his gut and send him flying across the water.

* * *

Zabuza quickly flipped back onto his feet and immediately was forced to defend against another attack from Naruto's blood-stained claws. Zabuza couldn't keep this up for long, he knew. Naruto was too fast, not giving him a chance to use any Jutsu, and physically they were a match. But in the end Naruto would outlast him. The Kyuubi energy would give him the stamina to run for days without needing any rest. The only chance Zabuza had was to use lethal force, which he certainly did not want to do...unless...

Zabuza kicked himself away from his attacker and mumbled to himself, "Maybe I can get some help from the inside?" He was never very good at trying to reach out to someone...Haku was always the one that snapped Naruto out of his Kyuubi form before...but it didn't look like he had much of a choice.

"Naruto!' The mist-ex-Jounin called. The Jinchuuriki froze and glared at him, "You have to stop this. What would Haku say if he saw you rampaging like this?" Naruto let out an earsplitting screech and charged him. "Remember Naruto! We have a job to finish!" he continued as he deflected his student's assault.

Naruto twisted his head violently to the side, looking back up to the top of the bridge, _**"No..."**_ he growled out in a gravely voice, _**"No job...Gato lies...Gato's fault...Haku died...Gato's fault.........."**_Zabuza followed Naruto's eyes up to the bridge, and what he saw shocked him. However at the moment the problem that was the most pressing was his student. Naruto was facing away from him, totally ignoring him. This was the Jounin's chance.

Violently, Zabuza jammed his thumb into a specific place underneath Naruto's jaw. Naruto's body tensed up for a brief moment and then went limp. This effect was almost immediately undone however as energy returned to Nartuo's body and he lifted his head up to snarl at his sensei. Zabuza sighed in exasperation. The nerves that he had hit should have rendered Naruto unconscious for at least a half-hour, but it seemed like the regenerative powers of the Kyuubi was preventing that. Naruto slashed his claws towards Zabuza's face, the Jounin was faster, and caught Naruto's wrist with one hand, while picking him up by the scruff of his shirt with the other.

**"NARUTO STOP THIS!"** he screamed into his students face, **"YOU PROMISED HAKU THAT YOU WOULD NEVER HURT AN INNOCENT PERSON! AND IF YOU CAN'T PROTECT THEM THEN THEY WILL GET HURT BECAUSE OF YOU! HAKU WOULDN'T WANT THIS!"**

Naruto glared at him for a brief moment before the words seemed to register in his mind and his face fell. The red aura flickered and died and Naruto adopted a look of sadness, "I'm sorry Zabuza," he whispered with labored breath as the Kyuubi's influence left him totally, "Gato lied...there is no payment, and Tazuna is not who we were told he was...please protect everyone." And Naruto lost consciousness.

Zabuza nodded as he caught his student in his arms, "I will."

* * *

Arch Zell: How is Zabuza overpowered? He was equal to Kakashi in the original story and though he is slightly stronger here, the reason that he beat Kakashi so quickly was not because of power, it was because he used psycological warfare. He hit Kakashi mentally in the one place that it hurt the most and used the tiny window of opportunity to take him down. He is only slightly better then Kakashi, but he won easily because he exploited Kakashi's weakness.

Slayer End: At the end of this little confrontation, three people will be put into critical condition, Haku, Zabuza, and Sasuke, but only one of them will die. Kakashi is also dead yes, but then so was Garra after he was kidnapped by Akatsuki. Kakashi is dead yes, but not out of the game yet (not permanently at least).

Furry Cutter: What do you think about Haku's chances now? Why could Sakura not make Mist clones a lot? They are not like Shadow clones or Water clones, they take only a tiny amount of chakra, due to the fact that they only stay in existence for a brief moment.

BatsintheBellfry: Yes I do choose cruel places to end. It is fun!

King Hawkeye: I have never seen anyone kill Kakashi this early, but then for every fic I read there are thousands that I don't so what do I know? What did you think of the story? I embellished it a bit but basically it is the real story of Muramasa and Masamune taken straight out of Japanese legend.

Gray-Haze: I have no intentions of abandoning this story, and I am very sorry for not updating sooner. I love this story, but there has been a lot going on recently. And the computer got another virus (apparently the last one that I got destroyed the defences that we had so I had to wipe out everything on this computer and restart it totally, then put in new virus defences).


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